Ace Combat X - The Southern Cross
by DemonLordGalm
Summary: 2020...the projected year of the Odysseus Meteors impact on Earth. Everyone is paranoid, not knowing when they would hit. In the midst of this paranoia an enemy in the form of Leasath rises and strikes out at its neighbor, Aurelia, forcing one of its pilots to stand up and fight back for everything he holds dear. This is the story of the Southern Cross. FINISHED
1. Prologue

A/N Here we are people at the fourth story in my Ace Combat story. Who else liked that cliffhanger ending I left last story? hehe, I quite liked it in my opinion, and this event will end up leading into what will happen after Ace Combat X in my, planned of course, largest story yet and the finale of this series.

Prologue

'I never would've believed it was possible. I denied and denied, saying it could and would never happen again...but it did. And now four years later, the projected time Osea's president stated the Odysseus meteors would take to reach us, the Stonehenge International Railgun Defense Network is nearing completion after so much time, effort and of course money. Now, however, came the waiting. My god...the _waiting_. Everyone was going paranoid, wondering when those damned meteors would strike. It could be two weeks from now, maybe a month or two, or it could even happen on the _very next day_. The feeling of dread was unbearable...and it was taking its toll on us all.'

'Besides that the past four years have been quite, well, peaceful. A lot of people had gone crazy after they had found out from the Emmerian government that one of their greatest assets duringy the Anean Continental War had been none other then the famed Demon Lord himself. The real praise though had gone mostly to the Emmerian ace Talisman, who was credited with the most kills from the entire war. All I can say is good for him.'

'Like the old saying goes, the new generation will always surpass the old, and it seems this Talisman guy is going to become the new Ace of Aces after the Demon Lord. And me? Well, it would be nice to be recognized as one of the greats like the Demon Lord, Solo Wing Pixy, Nicolai Reznov from Yuktobania, the Razgriz, and now Talisman and the Garuda Squadron as well.'

'Heh...here's to hoping, right?'

 **ACE COMBAT X - THE SOUTHERN CROSS**


	2. Skies of Incursion

A/N Welcome everyone to the first chapter of The Southern Cross. We move away from our focus on Cipher and his close knit network of friends, and go down farther south to bring into light the pilot from the Aurelian Air Force, Gryphus 1. But what importance does he hold I wonder? And another thing...the four years time span that Harling had said it would take the Odysseus Asteroids to reach earth has come. Now it's only a matter of time before they strike. Leave a fav and review of what you think so far

Chapter 1 - Skies of Incursion

 _Sudden Attack_

\- Aubrey Air Force Base, Cape Aubrey, Aurelia -

\- March 17th, 2020 1120 hrs -

The sun was shining brightly in the sky over Cape Aubrey, the stunning city by the sea enjoying the warmth the spring season brought to the country of Aurelia. Just then a pair of fighter jets, F-22A Raptors, passed over the serene port city as a part of their patrol route.

"Everything clear over here Gryphus 1. What do you got over there?" asked the pilot from the Raptor with a blue horizontal stabilizer.

"All I see is a beautiful day over Cape Aubrey. I say we head back to base and enjoy it." replied back the flight lead, Gryphus 1, from the other F-22 painted in the standard grey camo.

Gryphus 1, or Church most of the time, was the leader of a six-man squadron within the Aurelian Air Force known as the 207th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Gryphus". Their insignia was that of a vulture with its one visible wing outstretched and the constellation of a cross in its beak.

Flying with Church was Rick, the squadron's number 2, and they had just finished up one of their regularly scheduled patrols over their home of Cape Aubrey. Tensions had been rising between their country, the Federal Republic of Aurelia, and their neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Leasath, ever since Aurelia had been chosen to house one of the six Stonehenge facilities.

The plot of land in northern Aurelia that had been chosen as the build site was immediately made international territory and placed under the jurisdiction and control of the Osean Federation. And the air forces they hired to protect those skies were none other than members of the world famous U.A.F 6th Air Division. And for the past four years everything remained relatively calm, but still people worried about the threat the Odysseus asteroids presented to the entire planet.

Ulysses had been a dark day for the world, the chaos that resulted being caused by a large asteroid that split apart high up in the atmosphere after passing the Roche Limit and showered the northern hemisphere. Odysseus, however, was different. Over _ten thousand_ asteroids were heading right for them. If all of those asteroids were to strike the surface...a catastrophe wouldn't even begin to describe it.

"Roger that Gryphus 1. Let's go home." replied Rick as they banked right and set their heading for Aubrey Air Force Base.

When they were halfway there the rest of Church's squadron joined him and Rick on their return trip, their F-22A's skin glistening in the sunlight.

"How'd it go guys? Have any problems?" joked Roy, the squadron's third member and the typical class-clown.

"Oh yeah, we encountered those damn flying sharks and we had to shoot 'em down." said Rick sarcastically, Church and the other Gryphus members laughing in response.

"Calm down you guys, let's not get stressed on such a nice day as this." said Gryphus 5 to sooth the two pilots.

"I plan on hitting the beach after this. What about you Church?" asked Rick.

"Nah, too hot for me. I don't like hot weather that much, so I'll probably stick around at the base."

"What, Gryphus 1 is afraid of a little sweat?" asked Gryphus 6, the only female member of the squadron, in attempt to toy with her flight lead.

"Haha, very funny. No, I'm not. I probably lose more sweat working out then the five of you sitting on your asses combined." he said with a chuckle, his statement incurring a volley of swears and curses from his wingman.

"Anyway...have you guys taken a glance at the Stonehenge facility? That thing's guns are freaking _massive_." asked Gryphus 4 after they had finished chewing out their flight lead.

"Yeah, and there's five more of those around the world. Do you guys really think they'll be able to stop those asteroids?" asked Rick out of uncertainty while a shiver ran up his spine.

"It has to." said Church somewhat ominously, his tone drawing the attention of his wingmen. "Our lives depend on them."

Silence hung in the air among the six pilots as his words sunk in, reminding them all of the very real threat the asteroids posed.

"Jeez, Church, way to go on and freak us out." said Roy to break the ice and introduce a little light-heartedness back into the squadron.

"Heh, yeah. Sorry."

It was when some clouds started to roll in and provide pockets of shade that they arrived at Aubrey, the air base still buzzing with some activity. Church sent a request to land down to the control tower and lowered his landing gear in preparation for the approval.

"Roger that Gryphus 1, permission to land has been granted." reported back the control tower operator once he spotted them high up in the sky.

They began their descent, the other pilots lowering their Raptor's landing gear, and were about to enter their final approach route before they were quickly contacted by the control tower and ordered to stop immediately.

"Hold on Gryphus Squadron, landing has been cancelled. We're receiving an emergency transmission from the capital."

"What's going on Control?" questioned Church in growing concern.

If there was an emergency transmission from the capital, it couldn't be good.

"Gryphus Squadron you're being redirected to the the capital city of Griswall to fend off an enemy attack."

"From where?"

"Leasath."

"Leasath?! Why?"

"Seems they just declared war with a sudden attack on Griswall. Hurry up and head for the capital before the city falls into enemy hands!"

\- Griswall, Capital of Aurelia -

\- March 17th, 2020 1201 hrs -

The once peaceful capital of Aurelia, renown for its beauty and its iconic centerpiece, the Gaiuss Tower, had now been turned into a battleground when air and ground forces from the neighboring country of Leasath penetrated their borders and launched a sudden surprise attack on Griswall.

Aurelian defenders that had launched from the nearby Phuku Lagolla Air Force Base were doing everything in their power to prevent the Leasath air forces present in the skies from obtaining total air superiority, but they were being pushed back little by little even thought both sides were being led by squadrons that had access to some of the most advanced fighter jets out there, Aurelia's possessing the XFA-24A Apalis, and Leasath's being the YR-99 Forneus. Both planes utilized the second generation of the C.O.F.F.I.N system after its first reveal onboard the ADF-01 Falken next generation fighter.

"Jesus, I was just here a few days ago and now it's under attack." grumbled Rick as he and Church entered the airspace with the rest of their squadron, their F-22As fully armed and ready for combat.

"Allied reinforcements detected entering the airspace. It's the Gryphus flight! Quickly support the right flank!" ordered the Aurelian defense effort's coordinator back at Phuku Lagolla.

"Roger that. Let's go show them that old world tech can still rule these skies!" said Church with a smile as he dove down into the action and blew past the Gaiuss Tower on his way to the failing right flank.

"This is Falco 1, we're in dire need of assistance here!" yelled out the flight lead of the four XFAs holding back an entire force of Leasath planes.

All of a sudden the SU-37 tailing his navy blue colored jet exploded in a ball of fire, Church zooming past him and flipping around to go after one of the other enemy planes.

"We've got your back!" he said with a grin when the rest of Gryphus Squadron entered the fray and relieved the Falco pilots of some of their stress.

"Whew...who knew that our savior would come with Raptors. I'll take whatever we can get though! Let's push back these bastards all the way to Leasath!" replied Falco 1 somewhat arrogantly before the two Aurelian squadrons fought back against the enemy pilots, who by now had not said a single word up until now.

"Aurelian forces are rallying. Initiate Attack Order 66." spoke a Leasath pilot before their forces completely reorganized themselves in a matter of seconds and obliterated the Aurelian's first defense line around the city, allowing their ground forces to penetrate the city borders and begin to cause chaos on the streets below.

"They're invading the city! Damn them all!" snarled Falco 1 when he heard the retreat order being given down below from their allies.

"Enemy reinforcements detected on radar approaching Griswall. We don't have the strength to withstand another attack. All forces pull out of the capital and retreat to Sallqa Air Force Base."

"What?! Are you insane? We can't just abandon the capital!" yelled Church in defiance after he shot down an enemy Leasath pilot.

"And what happened to Phuku Lagolla?" asked Falco 1 afterwards.

"Phuku Lagolla has been overtaken by the enemy. Our forces have been ordered into a full-scale retreat.

"But that's bullshit! We just got here!" shouted Gryphus 5 angrily in defiance.

All of a sudden, in the midst of their arguing, a devastating shockwave reverberated throughout the sky and the twinkling light in the distance appeared shortly after, no doubt its source. As if on cue a third wave of enemy fighters entered the airspace, SU-47 Berkuts this time, and proceeded to fill the skies above Griswall to the point their numbers were triple the amount of Aurelian fighters currently in the air.

"Dammit...all forces listen up. This is Gryphus 1. Abandon the capital, I repeat, abandon Griswall."

"Church, you can't be serious! This is our capital, we can't just leave it, can we?" questioned Roy, but he was quickly silenced by Falco 1.

"Listen to your flight lead. This is the only action that we can take right now. Let's go." he said sternly, his reprimand making Roy clench his fists and growl at himself and the invading Leasath forces.

"Dammit…"

As the Aurelian pilots retreated from the airspace with whatever remained of their ground forces below, the squadron of Forneus' formed up over the Gaiuss Tower, which had somehow miraculously managed to get get struck throughout the entire engagement, and watched their enemies disappear over the horizon.

"This is Chimera 1 to all forces. The capital has fallen. Be ready for the next operation, and this time...make sure that none survive."

\- Gracemeria Air Force Base, Gracemeria, Emmeria -

\- March 17th, 2020 1230 hrs -

"Permission to land has been granted Garuda 1. Welcome back home!"

"Thanks. It's good to be back." replied Talisman when he extended his landing gear and brought his jet down close to the tarmac.

He had just returned from an extended diplomatic trip to Estovakia, where he had been chosen to be the head of the squadron that had escorted the Boeing 747 carrying the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the leaders of Emmeria, to a meeting with the Prime Minister of their neighboring country. It had been a long flight to and from St. Petersburg, the capital of Estovakia that had now just finally been rebuilt after the Trinity missile attack made the country's former leader, Gustav Dvornik, four years before, but it had been worth it.

For the past four years both countries had been working hand in hand to provide funds and manpower to help build the Stonehenge Railgun facility in Emmeria. It had been jointly built and as such both countries held ties to it, and as a result of this bond when construction was halfway complete Emmeria and Estovakia reorganized their border so that the complex rested in both countries, further bringing to light the unity they now shared.

The wheels of Talisman's F-15N touched down on the runway and he lifted the airbrakes up to their highest position so that it slowed his jet down to a crawl, eventually it coming to a stop at the rally point where they would be taken by the ground crew. He popped open the canopy once he shut down the engines and climbed out, taking in a deep breath of fresh air as he did so.

"Hey there Talisman!" said Marcus, his longtime friend and wingman, as he walked up to him.

"Hey Marcus." he replied after stepping down from the cockpit.

"Have you heard?" asked Marcus when they started their stroll towards the base's main building. "Leasath just declared war on its neighbor Aurelia and captured its capital."

"Really? Sounds a lot like what happened to us, and I still can't believe that there are people out there that can't grasp the idea of peace." muttered Talisman in disgust.

"I know. But there's something else too. To make sure both countries don't get any ideas, we're being sent alongside some other pilots from Osea to bolster the security forces stationed at the Stonehenge facility in Aurelia."

"So we're going to Aurelia then?" he asked. "Heh, this might actually help us out in the long run considering Lorenz and Nicolai haven't gotten any leads on our missing third pilot. Getting close and personal with another war will allow us to find the star among the group."

They stopped before one of the air base's many hangars and instantly a rush of air blew over the building, a large shadow following afterwards when the massive body of the Aigaion passed by overhead. Talisman couldn't help but smile at the airborne carrier as it made its flyby over the base.

Three years earlier and it would've looked the same as it did during the early stages of the Anean Continental War. Now, however, its physical appearance had been changed drastically. It's hull had been repainted from the original grey color to a dark maroon with the symbol of a dove painted on its back. It had been done like that to honor the newfound peace and unity between Emmeria and Estovakia that had arisen out of the ashes from the war four years earlier.

The hangar deck of the Aigaion had also gained a new adornment as well. Out of respect for the ally boths sides had gained during the war, the famed Demon Lord, they had erected a small memorial complete with the Galm Squadron's insignia to not only Cipher...but to his wife Elizabeth, who had been killed unjustly at the end of the war by Dvornik himself. The Aigaion had been her golden chariot for her return home from the Anean Continent, so it was only right.

"And I'm guessing that's how we'll be getting there?" asked Talisman with a smirk as he watched several KC-10 Extenders fly out in front of the Aigaion for its scheduled in-flight refueling.

"Yep. Nicolai and Lorenz are already waiting for us onboard with our Osean allies." said Marcus with a nod.

"Well let's get going then." he replied back.

In a couple of minutes both pilots were in the air in their planes and had already contacted the Aigaion for their landing. Once everything had been prepped they touched down on the flying carrier and were instantly greeted by a sight seen seen rarely by few. Two black fighter jets were just being put into the internal racks built into the walls of the Aiagion's hangar and standing close by were their pilots, a male and a female.

"Well look who's here." said Talisman with a grin as he and Marcus approached the two unknown pilots. "I never would've guessed that the famed Ghosts of Razgriz would bless us with their presence once again."


	3. Defense of Sallqa

A/N Oh yeah, this story is going to be a little difficult to write considering there's not a lot of information regarding some of the game's missions. This is however a good thing since it will get me prepped for the finale of this trilogy, Oblivion, where most of it will be created by myself. Here goes nothing I guess.

Chapter 2 - Defense of Sallqa

 _Unending Assault_

"There it is...Sallqa Air Force Base."

There was relief in Falco 1's voice when he had said that. After retreating from Griswall, the defeated Aurelian AIr Force had come here to plan a counter attack strategy against Leasath and purge their forces from their capital.

They hadn't heard anything from their allies on the ground either, so they could only hope they had made it out in one piece.

"Gryphus 1, you are cleared to land." said the Control Tower operator, Church lowering his landing gear and entering the final approach vector.

He hadn't talked at all since leaving the capital, considering before he had moved to Ca[e Aubrey and its affiliated Air Force Base, the capital had been his original home. Seeing the city and its world famous Gaiuss Tower fall into enemy hands had really put a toll on him, especially when they were forced to leave it without so much as putting up a fight.

"It'll be okay Church. We'll get Griswall back soon enough." said Rick reassuringly to try and cheer him up.

"Yeah...I hope so…"

\- International Territory Bravo, Northern Aurelia -

\- March 20th, 2020 1200 hrs -

"So that's what you guys have been doing all this time." remarked Talisman with a grin after Grimm and Nagase had finished telling their story.

Ever since the end of the Anean Continental War, Grimm and Nagase had not only maintained their ties with President Harling and acted as his personal escort squadron for his personal aircraft Mother Goose 1, but they had also been allowed clearance to oversee the construction of the Arkbird II, the replacement for the original that had been shut down in 2010.

"Yeah. And what's even better is that the second version will be larger, and that it could possibly lead to space travel." said Nagase with a grin.

"That would be nice considering we haven't been to Moon in a while." said Marcus before he looked over his shoulder and spotted Nicolai and Lorenz heading their way across the hangar deck.

"What's the news?" asked Grimm.

"So far they've retreated back to Sallqa Air Force Base to regroup and figure out a counterattack strategy." said Nicolai as he plopped himself down in a chair next to Marcus and put his feet up on a nearby crate while Lorenz prefered to remain standing.

They had just returned to the Aigaion from a high-altitude patrol mission and had decided to take a detour to check on the war occurring just outside the international territory's borders. It was relatively peaceful here over the Stonehenge construction height since neither Leasath or Aurelia would even dare attack them and face the combined strength of the Ustio 6th Air Division and the P-1112 Aigaion, not to mention the legendary Razgriz, Galm's Number 2 and the Garuda Team.

"And Leasath?" asked Marcus with a glance at Lorenz.

"A combined air and land force is heading there now. I estimate their time of arrival to be at 1400 hours." said the Belkan with a sigh.

"Two hours until the fireworks. huh?" said Talisman as he stood up and popped his back. "What do you say we go check it out?"

\- Sand Island, Osea -

\- 08'10'19"N 144'32'32"E -

\- March 20th, 2020 1232 hrs -

Sand Island, as it has been for the past nine years, was barren and devid of life. Well, not entirely. Other then the occasional flock of seagulls, a cargo ship carrying supplies had docked at the island and was in the process of unloading all that it had carried under the watchful eyes of an older man dressed in a blue mechanic's jumpsuit.

"Just put that over there!" he bellowed up to the crane operator moving a large container filled with barrels of clean water off the cargo ship.

From far away, on any other day, the island would look like it had been abandoned, which was partially true. It housed no military jets and officers in its hangars and barracks. Silence prevailed almost always over the base, with only the incessant gawking of the seagulls there to break it.

In reality, however, President Harling had commissioned the island to be the personal air base for the legendary Razgriz Air Command Squadron, more commonly known as the Ghosts of Razgriz after their emergence during the waning days of the Circum-Pacific War after the "deaths" of the Osean pilots that had been known as the Razgriz, Hans Grimm, Kei Nagase and their flight lead known only as "Blaze".

The pilots survived of course and were joined by their "killer", Marcus Snow to become the President's personal air squadron, the Razgriz Air Command Squadron, putting a stop to the Belkan Grey Men, the A.W.W.N.B and effectively ending the Circum-Pacific War over the skies of Oured.

It also served as the pilot's home considering they were still considered "ghosts", and that after their public reveal back in 2015 they wanted to stay away from the spotlight just like Cipher had, to basically fade away into legend.

The one person that Harling trusted above even his top advisors and military officials to watch over the island? The mechanic that had been the mastermind behind his daring rescue from Stier Castle in 2010, of course.

"Alright gentlemen, that'll be it. I appreciate it."

"Peter N. Beagle, or I should be saying Wolfgang Buncher."

The aging mechanic turned around and grinned when an old friend of his, one he had not seen for quite some time, strolled up to him with his hands in his jean pockets.

"Cipher? How'd you get here?" he asked as he shook hands with the retired pilot.

"Please, Pops, call me Alek. I'm not flying anymore, so that callsign is useless now." replied Cipher.

From out behind his legs emerged his son, Jasper, and Pops raised an eyebrow in wonder at how similar to the two were to one another. Jasper had even inherited Cipher's complete _Heterochromia iridium_ , possessing both an icy blue left eye and a piercing light green right eye.

"Well now, who's this?" asked Pops as he lowered himself down onto one knee to get a better look of Jasper.

"This is my son, Jasper. Jasp, this is Pops, an old friend of mine from the Circum-Pacific War." said Cipher, Jasper's expression quickly brightening up when he recognized the nickname.

"Yeah, I remember. You used to be a Belkan ace right?" he asked, Pops chuckling as he stood back up and dusted himself off.

"You would be correct. Your old man here was the one that shot me down." he said, his hands gravitating to his pockets as he put all of his weight onto his right foot and sighed.

"I heard about what happened four years ago...Nagase told me. I'm sorry Alek, I can't believe that someone would-"

"Thanks Pops, I know. It was...rough, to say the least." said Cipher with a heavy sigh.

The two old friends spent a few minutes talking about what they had been doing for the past few years as they walked away from the docks and the departing cargo ship towards the hangars, which had been used primarily to store all of the base's supplies. Three had been set aside for Nagase, Grimm and SNow for their jets, but a fourth hangar at the end of the line had been locked up and closed for several years now.

"Where's Snow at?" asked Cipher when he noticed Snow's jet was still inside his hangar.

"He's in Oured right now studying up on politics and such. He's planning on running for President."

"Really? Does Harling know?"

"He's actually all for it. Snow has the charisma to get things done, and unlike Nagase and Grimm he has some experience in the world of politics. And since he's a member of the Razgriz his approval rating would sky rocket." explained Pops as they neared the last hangar, Cipher allowing Jasper to run on up ahead.

"So, how is she?" asked Cipher, referring to the unknown object hidden behind the hangar's large sliding door.

"She's just like how you left her. I've been taking good care of her too, tweaking and adding some new things every chance I got. You want to see?"

"Yes, please."

Pops chuckled as he walked up to the hangar door control panel and disengaged the electronic locks keeping shut, pushing another button to activate the gears and mechanisms that open the door.

Cipher's lips curled up into a warm smile as the door rolled back, revealing a lone fighter jet mostly covered by a black tarp. He said nothing as he approached the aircraft's noise and gripped the tarp's fabric tightly, using all of his strength to pull it off.

Sunlight glinted off the canopy glass of his old F-15C Eagle, the same jet he flew during the first half of the Belkan War twenty five years earlier. Even though it had been that long the custom blue paint job on the wings, vertical and horizontal stabilizers having the same new shine, thanks to Pops' consistent maintenance and upkeep.

"It's been too long…" murmured CIpher under his breath as he closed his eyes and placed a hand on the nose of his Eagle, patting it gently.

"She may look the same, but got an overhaul on her internal systems and equipment." stated Pops when he walked in with Jasper. "I modified the hardpoints under the wings and body too. Now instead of the standard loadout of Sidewinders, XLAAs and GBUs, she can carry LASMs, XAGMs and even MPBMs if you so desire."

"I appreciate you holding onto her all this time Pops."

"Of course, anything for a friend." replied Pops before Jasper tugged on Cipher without taking his eyes of the jet.

"Dad, is this the plane you flew during the Belkan War?" he asked out of wonder, Cipher taking a knee beside him and running a hand through his hair.

"The one and only." he said before an idea popped into his mind. "Hey, Bud, you want to watch your old man fly?"

"Really?" asked Jasper with wide eyes.

He nodded and Jasper's smile grew exponentially, the thought of watching his father, his idol, fly making his entire body shake in anticipation and excitement.

"The helmet's still in the chair, and she's all filled up." said Pops as Cipher pulled over a rolling step ladder so he could climb into the cockpit.

"Really? Why's that?"

"Nagase would fly over the base in it when she got bored. She misses you being around."

Cipher chuckled as he lowered himself into the cockpit and closed the canopy glass, pressurizing the cockpit with a slight hiss. He slipped on the flight helmet and started to power of the Eagle's internal systems, noticing a picture taped close to the altimeter.

His heart grew warmer and he smiled at the picture, placing two fingers on it and sighing. It was of Elizabeth a week after they had gotten married, when they had gone to Anfang and went to the beach. She had a big smile on her face and radiated joy and happiness, a personality that could make anyone around her change their moods. It was one of the reasons why he had married her.

" _I miss you...so, so much…_ "

He quickly shook himself out of his stupor and turned on the engines, easing the thrust forward to get the jet going when Pops and Jasper moved to the side to allow him room to exit the hangar.

Once he made it out onto the runway he rotated his plane on the front landing gear wheel until he was facing towards the opposite end of the base and took a deep breath, relaxing his nerves and clearing his mind of all his worries and problems. It was time to return to his one, true home.

In a split second he shot off down the runway with a deafening roar and took to the sky, his bond to the Earth breaking once the Eagle's landing gear left the ground.

He retraced them into the fuselage and closed his eyes when the sun bathed him in its warm glow and purified him of all his past sins.

He twisted and flipped through the air as if he were a majestic eagle without a care in the world, his one and only true passion being to ride the gentle air flow and rise as high as the clouds, free from the world's grasp. His moves were more then graceful, they were flawless. The mark of a true Ace.

"Wow…" uttered Jasper in total awe, Pops kneeling down beside him and nodding as he watched Cipher fly freely through the air from outside the hangar.

"Yeah...exactly. No matter what anyone says or thinks, he'll always be the best of the best. The true Ace of Aces."

\- Sallqa Air Force Base -

\- Fifteen Minutes Later -

It all happened at once. The air raid sirens came on first, followed by the barrage of artillery shells, then came the roar of the enemy jet fighters as they zoomed over and commenced their attack.

The Aurelian military was caught caught completely off guard again, with only a few jets in the air becoming the first line of defense against the Leasath surprise attack.

"Fox 2, Fox 2!" shouted Church as he gunned down a Leasath fighter tailing one of his wingman.

"Stay focused! It's not over yet! We can't let our allies get wiped out here!"

Church swore under his breath when he and his wingman were pushed farther and farther back by the overwhelming Leasath forces, their imminent defeat becoming more real with every passing second.

"Do not let the enemy breath. Bomb the runway." ordered the pilot in charge of the operation from his YR-99 Forneus.

On his command a fleet of bombers, TU-160s, appeared from behind the main force and dropped their altitude en route to the air base, Church cursing at the sheer numbers Leasath was using on them.

"Everyone, continue to hold off the enemy fighters. I'm going to take down those bombers!" he yelled before he turned his Raptor down and took a nose-dive straight for the charging TU-160s.

Meanwhile high above the entire engagement, far out of reach for their radars, Talisman, Marcus, Nicolai, Lorenz, Grimm and Nagase flew over the battle and observed from above, trying to pick out the one pilot that stood out the most.

"So what are we looking for here?" asked Nagase as she made a wide bank turn and made another sweep of the skies for their target.

"A pilot that shows exceptional skill above all the rest. Basically a copy of Talisman or Cipher." replied Grimm.

Talisman blinked a few times and retracted his helmet visor so he could get a better look and he mumbled something under his breath when he spotted a pilot weaving through the bombers. He watched the pilot closely and he marvelled at how fluid his motions were and how easily each bomber fell before him.

"I've got it." he said victoriously as he updated everyone's IFF with the tactical readout data of the F-22A Raptor pilot.

"So you think it's him, huh? Says here he's the leader of the Gryphus Squadron, name's Church. Nothing else is given." asked Nicolai after he got the information.

"I think Talisman may be right. Let's keep watching." said Grimm in curiosity.

Down below Church had finally cut through the final Tu-160 with a pair of missiles and successfully saved the runway from imminent destruction, putting a hole in Leasath's attack strategy even further when Falco 1 and his squadron took off and joined the fight to defend the base.

"This is Falco 1 to Gryphus Squadron, our assignment has been changed. We're being ordered to retreat again. We're gonna cover the ground forces as they evacuate Sallqa."

"You've got to be kidding me, again?" remarked Roy in frustration.

Falco 1 didn't have time to reply back when Leasath stepped up their attack and sent in another wave of fighters lead by the one YR-99 leading the operation. In a flash they were right on top of Gryphus and Falco, the two squadrons immediately having to fight just to survive against the overwhelming odds presented by the Leasath forces.

For every fighter they shot down two would replace it. And that Forneus pilot was definitely the most skilled out of them all, coming close to shooting down both Rick and Roy in a single go. Thankfully Church was there to bail them out and distract the pilot long enough for them to get away.

"You foolish Aurelian pilot. Die." growled the pilot as he attacked Church furiously.

"It's gonna take more than a couple of missiles to bring me down!" he shouted back after avoiding every missile shot at him and immediately turned the tables on the Leasath pilot, the hunter becoming the hunted.

"Allied forces have completed their evacuation, it's time to go Gryphus 1!" shouted Falco 1 after he shot down a pair of fighters.

"Give me a second…" murmured Church as he mimicked every move the Leasath pilot made and after a few seconds of waiting he finally got the lock-on he was looking for and fired.

A missile lanced out from his F-22A and due to their proximity the Forneus pilot had barely any time to dodge and instead took the missile straight in the engine, a burst of flame shooting out over the jet's body before it was ripped in half from the wings down. The pilot had managed to pull the eject lever just in time and the armored cockpit shot open, allowing his flight ejection seat to rocket out and propel him to relative safety.

"Gryphus Squadron, on me! Let's go!" he ordered as he quickly doubled back and chased after the retreating Falco Squadron just as Sallqa Air Force Base was overrun by the enemy.

Up above Talisman leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply before he turned his jet around and set a course back to Territory Bravo with the others. They had seen enough from that one engagement to know who it was they were looking for. There was no doubt. The third survivor of Project ACES had to be Church, flight leader of the Aurelian Gryphus Squadron.

They just had to figure out how to break the news to him.

\- Unknown Location -

\- 2200 hrs -

An unmarked fighter jet passed over a line of fences before touching down at the unknown air base and coming to a halt. Four small levitating pods came to a halt beside it and attached to four different ports built into its airframe, immediately deactivating and shutting down with the rest of the aircraft.

The pilot slipped off his flight helmet and ran a hand through his spiky silver hair, sighing slightly before he grinned and opened the armored cockpit and stood up. He reached back into a compartment built into the plane just behind the flight seat and retrieved a silver suitcase and a black and red top hat that he immediately placed atop his head.

" _Time to get the money I deserve._ " he thought as he climbed out of his jet and dropped down onto the ground, proceeding towards the base's main building through the light snow blowing over the area.

He passed by a guard dressed all in combat armor with a Steyr AUG slung over his shoulder and he tipped his hat, the guard nodding before he opened the door and allowed him inside. He walked down the hallway inside and made a right at a two-way intersection, heading towards a pair of doors that had a faint light behind it.

He pushed open the left door and walked inside, finding two men inside already waiting for him. One was dressed just like the guard outside with the exception of a weapon while the other was the man he had met so many times before, his client.

"Ah, so you came. Well done Jack." he said as he held out and hand, the man sneering as he handed over the suitcase and crossed his arms.

"Where's my money?" he asked, the client smirking as he snapped his fingers.

Two men dressed in black suits and red ties walked out from the darkness and rested another suitcase on the table next to the client, one of them unlocking it and raising the lid up to show Jack the large amount of money stowed inside.

"Good. Thank you for your time." he said as he grabbed on the suitcase and tipped his hat to the man before turning around and leaving the room.

When he left, the second man turned to the first and asked, "Do you think we can trust him?"

"Of course. He's going to be valuable to us when it comes." said the man before he grinned. "Operation: Unity will become a reality. All we have to do...is wait."


	4. Threat in Back

A/N Alright, I think I've finally got my bearings on this story and I know what direction to take these first few chapters that lead up to the actual events of Ace Combat X. These first few I'm actually taking from the mobile Ace Combat Xi - Skies of Incursion. That's the reason why it's difficult to write this for the moment because there is practically no information regarding the missions for it. This is helpful however because its good practice for thinking up scenarios that can occur because that's practically going to be 90% of Ace Combat - Oblivion, the finale. Oh, and on another note, ACE COMBAT 7 HYPE TO THE MAX!

Chapter 3 - Threat in Back

 _Nowhere to Hide_

\- Mt. Nevera -

\- March 21st, 2020 0800 hrs -

"Damn, those Leasath bastards don't know when to give up." growled Roy irritably after looking at the same view he's had on his radar since yesterday's evacuation from Sallqa Air Force Base.

No later then a few minutes after letting Leasath forces capture the base they had more hits on the radar and discovered it was a squadron of fighters sent after them to shoot them down. It got even more stressful when a squadron of allied transport aircraft carrying troops and equipment joined their flight.

There was no doubt that the enemy desired to shoot them down and put a thorn in the Aurelian military's side.

"I'm starting to get real tired of seeing those damn fighters behind us all the time." said Gryphus 4 before he looked back over his shoulder and spotted the Leasath fighters off in the distance.

The sky was clear enough that they could see tiny dots in the distance, and ever since the sun rose they could still see them, pursuing them and growing ever closer. Falco 1 looked back and clacked his teeth together before he sent radar updates to his wingmen and ordered them to turn around and join him.

"What are you doing Falco 1?" asked Church when the flight lead turned away from the main group and picked up speed towards the advancing air forces.

"We're gonna get these fighters off our tails, that's what. You got a problem with that?" asked the flight lead.

"Our mission is to escort our allies to Sachana Air Force Base, not to grab more kills. You don't know if they have another force ready and waiting just beyond our radar coverage and as soon as you leave they'll overwhelm us!" growled Church, his attitude towards the arrogant and cocky pilot rising.

Falco 1 didn't even bother responding and completely blew him off, irritating Church further when he continued on course with his squadron towards the advancing Leasath fighters. The five man squadron flew SU-30s, and compared to their FXA-24s, this would be an easy engagement that would be over in a few moments.

"Enemy fighters approaching."

"Roger. Initiate Attack Order 87."

All of a sudden Flaco 1's radar shut off and his ears were met with static, the same thing happening to his wingmen. They were being jammed. He looked down at his radar and tapped it a few times in frustration before he glanced back at the five enemy fighters, his eyes widening in shock when around twenty more seemingly appeared out from them and surrounded his squadron.

"Shit, it was a trap!" exclaimed Roy when he saw the maneuver unfold on his radar, Church growling as he pulled his Raptor's nose back and gunned it.

"Church!"

"Stay there and protect the transports! I'll rescue Falco." he ordered sternly before he pulled down his visor and armed some 4AAMs.

He counted twenty five aircraft circling the entrapped Falco Squadron and then looked up, spotting an unmarked craft flying high above them. Just by the design of the fuselage and the large dish on its back he knew that it was a jammer aircraft and he immediately targeted it first, lifting his jet's nose up and speeding up right at it.

"On your left!" shouted Falco 1 just before one of his wingmen was shot at by one of the enemy jets, and thankfully it was just in time.

All of a sudden the static in his ears went away and his radar came back online, the source of it unknown to him before two of the SU-30s that had initiated the trap went up in flames. He whipped his head around and watched as Church zoomed past their flaming wreckage, his eye twitching slightly in anger.

"We don't need your help!"

"Of course you didn't, now help me shoot down these guys." replied Church sarcastically as they rallied together to shoot down several other enemy fighters before the rest were scared off.

They returned back to the rest of Gryphus Squadron and the transport planes and in a few hours finally arrived at Sachana Air Force Base. After he landed and shut down his fighter jet, he opened the canopy and noticed Falco 1 angrily stomping his way towards him.

" _Oh great._ " he thought as he hopped onto the ground and tucked his helmet under arm while giving Falco 1 an ambiguous look.

"We had that under control." he said with a growl upon stopping an inch away from Church's face.

"Yeah, that's what it seemed like from your angle. What I saw was someone being too arrogant and getting himself caught in an obvious trap." retorted Church, the tone in his voice just as harsh as Falco 1's.

His eye twitched and he clenched his fists, his top lip quivering slightly as his inner rage began to take control over his body and cloud his better judgment. Church however stood his ground and glared at him with a stone-cold scowl, the two pilots standing at odds with one another before Falco 1 broke away from the stare and shook his head while muttering something under his breath.

"Whatever." he said over his shoulder before he whirled back around and pointed directly at Church. "If you get in my way again, I'll kill you."

He stormed off, Church's expression souring ever so slightly before he too walked away from his fighter jet. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly so as to vent out his anger at how egotistic Falco 1 had become since the last time he had seen him. The truth behind the matter was they used to be the best of friends, flying together over Cape Aubrey a few years ago. Than he got an order from the higher-ups and he and his entire squadron was transferred to Phuka Lagolla, never to be seen or heard from again.

Apparently they had their old fighters replaced with state-of-the-art experimental jet fighters equipped with the next generation of the C.O.F.F.I.N system featured on the ADF-01 Falken. All of a sudden his personality changed drastically just because his squadron got advanced aircraft that basically made other aircraft like my F-22A almost obsolete. What's funny though is that they don't even come close to the aircraft Ustio have in their air force...*those are some badass fighter jets.

" _He's gonna get himself killed with that attitude of his._ "

\- Sentry Island, Danern Straits, Democratic Republic of Leasath -

\- 2200 hrs -

A man in a dark green military uniform with golden epaulettes, badges and awards lining his chest and a matching cap on to complete his outfit. Two soldiers in similarly colored BDUs complete with flak jackets and FX-05 Xiuhcoatl assault rifles slung over their shoulders walked on either side of him. He was undoubtedly the commanding officer of the group and he certainly walked like one too, with his hands clasped firmly behind his back and a stoic expression on his face.

The group came to a halt before a pair of sliding metal doors and the man in the center motioned with his head to either side, the soldiers saluting him before they stepped aside and stood guard on either side of the doors. The man leaned in close to a small pad built into the surface of the left door and widened his right eye, a scanner quickly activating and going over his eyeball once to confirm his identity.

It beeped twice before the doors slid open, allowing the man entrance into the large facility built into the island. The Danern Islands rested in Leasath's jurisdiction, and due to their location off the coast of the country and how it was uninhabited, it was the perfect location for a military base. To the public of both Leasath and Aurelia the base didn't even exist, so whatever rested inside the facility's interior was entirely top secret. The man walked down a pristine white hallway devoid of anything until he arrived at another door which opened when he was close enough for the detector built into the wall above it to see him.

"Welcome back, General."

The man's eyes widened and he whirled around, coming face to face with a man whose face alone could give people nightmares.

"What, did you see a ghost?" mused Jack as he chuckled before pushing himself off the wall and walked towards a glass window pane looking out over the calm waters surrounding the island, the Moon's image reflecting off its surface.

"Why are you here?" asked the General apprehensively as Jack lightly tapped his hand on his cane and grinned.

"You obviously know why." he replied before he glanced over his shoulder and pointed with his thumb out to a large black object sitting on the water. "*He sent me to check up on your progress."

The General gulped nervously when he watched the object sit perfectly still atop the water and remembered what it was just by how it looked. The base may very well be built into the island itself, but he knew that the unknown shadow sitting just a few miles away had enough firepower to wipe it completely off the grid.

"Ah-Ahem, very well. If you would please follow me." said the General with a nervous cough before he continued on past the windows towards the sound of machinery hard at work.

Jack's grin widened as he followed a few feet behind him, his cane striking the ground with every step he took and each noise it made making the General flinch. They arrived at a final pair of doors and the General opened them, revealing a large interior hangar with spots for at least an entire air division's worth of jets.

However that was not the case. Currently resting suspended by large mechanical arms and clamps in the center of the hangar was a massive black-skinned aircraft that easily dwarfed them with its gargantuan wings and tail. To Jack, its overall design gave it the look of a large bird.

"Ah...simply gorgeous." he said, marvelling at its construction while he followed the General down a flight of stairs to the hangar floor.

"It's almost ready for preliminary trials, and once we've figured out the bugs we'll add on its other features and begin creation of the final product." he explained as they walked under its impressive bulk, a few sparks from some engineers working on its underbelly hitting the ground around them.

"Excellent. I'll tell him right away. Good work Navarro, you may actually have some use after all."


	5. Pressure

A/N The plot thickens...I wonder what sort of weapon Jack was talking about that Navarro knew could wipe out the entire island he was on is? That, my friends, will be revealed in the future. I'm not gonna spoil too much now am I? Leave a fav and review

Chapter 4 - Pressure

 _Crush all Hope_

\- International Territory Bravo, Northern Aurelia -

\- March 26th, 1014 hrs -

"That's the fifth Leasath squadron I've seen today. Whoever's in charge really wants to use the railguns." said Marcus after he ad Talisman scared off another group of fighters that had gotten a little too close to the border.

"Yeah, I know right? It's starting to get annoying." replied Talisman.

Ever since the war sparked between Leasath and Aurelia a few days ago the Stonehenge facility had seen a ten-fold increase in security, the territory it sat within becoming a literal fortress state. No one from either Aurelia or Leasath would even dare to invade for fear of retaliation from not only Osea, Ustio and Emmeria, but from the entire international community considering the facility had been built to save humanity from the threat of the Odysseus Asteroids.

"Garuda, your patrol mission is now complete. Return to the Aigaion."

"Roger that Ghost Eye, we're on our way back now." said Talisman enthusiastically as he rotated his F-15N around with Marcus in tow and set a direct course back to the facility.

They didn't get very far.

"Hold on, we're getting new information from our long range radars. Your mission is being changed. An unidentified squadron of jets has penetrated our airspace and are making a direct route for Stonehenge." reported Ghost Eye before he updated their radars with the location of the unknown contacts. "Establish communication with the intruders and order them to leave the airspace. You are permitted to use force if necessary."

" _Finally, something interesting to take my mind off all this boredom._ " thought Talisman with a grill.

"Come on Marcus, let's go greet our new friends."

"Roger Talisman, I'm with you."

It took them a few minutes of flying at full speed but they finally reached the coastline of Northern Aurelia at the farthest reach of Territory Bravo and spotted the unknown fighters speeding along in perfect formation. From this distance Talisman could see they were colored pitch black and its design looked similar to that of a B-2A Spirit, only with a sleeker design.

Once they got within range of the squadron Talisman connected his comm. system to an open channel he knew they could both used and coughed to get their attention.

"Unidentified fighters, this is Garuda 1 of the Republic of Emmeria AIr Force. You are currently in restricted airspace and I must ask you to change course and leave immediately." he announced in a calm yet forceful tone.

He knew that the pilots flying the strange looking aircraft had heard him, but they made no change in their course and continued flying forward at the same speed.

"I repeat, change course and exit this airspace immediately or I will use force." said Talisman again as he armed the OPCM pods his aircraft was carrying and tensed up.

Marcus did the same and narrowed his eyes in suspicion when the unknown pilots did not respond. It was highly disconcerting and gave him a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

After a few more seconds of silence Talisman got a good look at the aircraft the unknown squadron utilized once they got close and noticed immediately the lack of a glass cockpit, recognizing that instead it possessed an armored cockpit equipped with C.O.F.F.I.N. There were no air force roundels or country flags either, so he had no idea what country they belonged to.

"Marcus, o-"

Before he could give the order to attack the four flying-wing type jets sped up and flipped themselves around so quickly the maneuver caught him and Marcus off guard. They opened fire with twin guns place on either side of the cockpit, Talisman and Marcus both diving to the side to avoid the sudden attack.

"AWACS, these guys are hostile and highly skilled! Requesting back-up!" yelled Talisman after barely dodging a missile launched from one of the two unknown jets chasing him.

"Roger, I've already sent the order. Allied reinforcements will arrive in two minutes!" said Ghost Eye as the battle between the two squadrons quickly progressed from a skirmish to an all-out fight to the death.

Talisman wrenched his neck back to get a look at where the two jets behind him were at and growled. They were right on his tail and he was using every trick in the book to try and shake them off, but it wasn't effective at all. The pilots were obviously skilled and wasted none of their movements.

" _It's as if I'm fighting myself or Cipher all over again! Dammit!_ " he thought angrily as he pulled up into a steep climb and looked back again.

"Now, Marcus!"

"Roger!"

He fired one of his OPCMs at the two jets and grinned when the swarm of Griffon missiles released from the carrier missile struck both head on and enveloped them both in clouds of fire and smoke.

"Got 'em!" he exclaimed victoriously, but his expression quickly changed to shock when they emerged completely unscathed.

"What the hell kind of plane are those things?!" sputtered Talisman with a grunt when he saw a bright red light expand out over the jet's airframe like a rippling wave on water and vanished just as quickly.

"Allied forces have arrived Garuda Team!" informed Ghost Eye just as two friendly dots appeared on radar heading their way fast.

Without a word the unknown fighter jets disengaged from the fight and retreated at full speed, surprising Talisman at how sudden they left.

That was when one of the pilots finally spoke.

"Your time will come, Irregular. Count on it." muttered one of the pilots darkly before their planes literally vanished into thin air, as if they had never been there in the first place.

"Talisman, Marcus! You two okay?" asked Nagase as she and Grimm flew up beside them, ready to fight.

"Y-Yeah, just a little shaken is all." replied Talisman as he let out a deep breath to soothe his nerves.

"What happened? Who were they?" asked Grimm, referring to the unknown fighters.

"We don't know. They were flying a jet I've never even seen before and it had no air force roundels or country flags whatsoever." said Marcus calmly after they formed up with them to return to Stonehenge.

"So...you have no idea where they came from or who they were?"

"None whatsoever."

"One of the pilots did say something though." murmured Talisman in a low tone, his mind still stuck on trying to figure out what the words meant.

"What was it?" asked Nagase.

"He said "Your time will come, Irregular. Count on it."." he stated, the ominous declaration creating a blanket of silence that gave them all a bad feeling deep down.

"I doubt we'll see them again, but there's one thing I don't get." said Grimm after thinking about the words for a few moments. "Why did he call you "Irregular"? Does he know about you being genetically modified?"

"That's the conclusion I keep coming to, but the only people that have knowledge of Project ACES are Cipher, James, Reidel, Nicolai and us. Everyone else who had known of it is dead." said Talisman before he looked out at the ocean and blinked a few times when he thought he saw something sitting on the waves, a ship possibly.

"So then...who could they have been?"

\- Sachana Air Force Base -

\- March 28th, 0100 hrs -

"Man, why did we have to wake up so damn early...?" asked Gryphus 6 with a yawn as she walked into the briefing room with Church and the rest of the squadron at one in the morning, Falco 1 and his squadron following behind with tired expressions.

"You all better wake up right now, because this next mission could determine if we have a chance to push back Leasath and win this war in the next couple of days." ordered the Base Commander sternly as the tired pilots sat themselves down and rubbed their eyes.

"You all are being sent on a mission to defend the naval port of Challwa south of Griswall. Leasath, in an attempt to secure their hold on our capital, is going to launch a large-scale naval invasion of the port and secure it as a supply station they can use to pour more troops and armor into our country." said the Base Commander before he unclasped his hands and pointed straight at both Church and Falco 1.

"Since we cannot run the risk of leaving Sachana undefended in case Leasath decides to attack us once again, we will be sending you two,our best pilots, to Challwa to bolster the defense forces. Get to the port and defend it at all costs. We must not allow it to fall into enemy hands. Dismissed!"

Church and Falco 1 glared at one another before they stood up and walked out of the briefing room to get to their jets.

\- Challwa Naval Port, Aurelia -

\- March 28th, 2020 0300 hrs -

"I don't like this...it's too quiet." mumbled Church as he passed through one of the many dark clouds hanging low over the darkened port of Challwa, Falco 1 lagging behind him and remaining silent.

They had arrived at the port thirty minutes ago and had quickly gotten a bearing on their surroundings while they waited for Leasath to show themselves and begin their attack. Thirty minutes later however it had remained eerily calm and quiet, something that just seemed off. They hadn't spoken on their way here either and had flew in utter silence, their animosity towards one another the only thing they shared.

"When the enemy finally show themselves...stay out of my way." growled Falco 1 before he split off to cover the other half of the port.

" _Arrogant bastard._ " thought Church with a growl before he returned his attention to the radar to see if anything had been identified.

All of a sudden the sky lit up as a swarm of missiles blew past him and began to descend down towards the naval port at maximum speed, several explosions popping up among the defensive emplacements a few seconds later. The attack had begun.

"Enemy naval vessels and landing craft spotted off the coastline! Multiple enemy fighters are also in the air!" reported the command station down from the port, Church immediately looking around and spotting several Leasath SU-30s dropping down from above the clouds.

He immediately engaged the first group he came across and shot them down easily enough, his Raptor adding a couple of more kills to its list as he dropped his altitude to get a better look at the battle. Spot lights from the port were slicing through the sky like knives, spotting any aircraft they came across and once identified as a hostile a storm of AA gunfire would follow behind it. He looked to the right and gulped nervously at the size of the fleet Leasath had amassed to invade the naval port. He counted at least fifty amphibious transport vessels alone and in the back he counted larger ships in total, with one sticking out the most.

"You have got to be shitting me they got a carrier!" he exclaimed when he saw more SU-30s take off from the Kitty-Hawk class aircraft carrier.

" _Well, I knew they wouldn't make it easy for us but come on!_ "

He decided that he would leave the destruction of the landing craft to Falco 1 and the port defenders and sped out towards the Leasath fleet, the greeting he received being a storm of AA fire from the surrounding AEGIS ships and frigates protecting the carrier. He weaved through the incoming fire and shot down another pair of SU-30s before he locked on to the command tower of the carrier and dived straight down at it.

"The carrier's being targeted! Get that pest away!" ordered the captain from the bridge of the carrier before the CIWS system onboard the ship activated and sprayed a stream of bullets into the sky towards Church.

He grunted after a couple of bullets struck his Raptor and he split off from the dive bomb attempt, blind firing a missile as he did so that struck the deck of the carrier close to one of the hydraulic elevators and causing large explosion to shake the entire vessel and cause some chaos.

" _You hit me, I hit you back twice as hard._ " thought Church with a smirk before he refocused his efforts on one of the AEGIS vessels and avoided a SAM missile fired from one of its emplacements.

He fired two missiles that struck its bow and deck, spraying fire and smoke across the entire ship and severely damaging it. He didn't put a third missile in to finish off the ship however and continued on to another AEGIS, planning to not totally destroy the fleet but render them incapable of fighting and let them retreat.

"How's the beach defense going on?" he asked after avoiding another missile from an enemy AEGIS.

"Fine, they've landed a couple of tanks and troops on the beach close to the port but our forces are taking care of them." replied Falco 1 calmly. "What of the fleet?"

"I'm keeping them occupied and I've managed to severely damage one of the vessels with a second one on its way here shortly. If we keep this up they'll give up the landing operation and retreat." replied back Church before he let loose a missile and smirked when it struck the AEGIS he was targeting directly below the bridge.

"Roger."

From then on the battle proceeded somewhat smoothly, with the Aurelian defense forces holding their ground against the larger Leasath forces and eventually destroying enough of their landing ships that they abandoned the land invasion and proceeded to bombard the dock heavily with their frigates and fighter bombers.

"Launch them out. If we can't capture the port, than we'll destroy it." ordered the carrier's captain before the still serviceable AEGIS vessels released wave after wave of missiles from their VLS tubes, Church cursing under his breath at the sheer amount.

"We've got missiles inbound for the port, help me shoot them down!"

"On it already." growled Falco 1 as he joined up with Church to chase down the missiles heading for the port facilities.

With their combined efforts they managed to shoot down most of the missiles and mitigate damage to the port, thwarting the enemy's attempt at levelling Challwa and negating the possibility of another land invasion.

"You got lucky this time Aurelia. We'll be back."

"Thanks a lot for the help in the skies! We appreciate it!"

Church let out a sigh of relief as he lowered his air speed down and flew over the port once before he turned towards the direction of Sachana and leaned back in the flight chair for the ride back. Falco 1 flew up beside him without saying a word, and quite frankly he liked it like that. If the only time they spoke to one another was during battle, that was all that was needed.

"Good job...Church."

His eyes shot open and he glanced over at Falco 1 in total shock. Not only had he actually addressed him by his *nickname, but he was actually *congratulating him. It was a complete 180 from his usual arrogant personality.

"T-Thanks. Same to you."

"Let's get back to base, yeah? This war's not gonna end without us." asked Falco 1 with a slight grin before he picked up speed, tempting Church into a race.

He accepted, obviously.


	6. Survive to the End

A/N So Considering the reveal trailer for Ace Combat 7 it is apparently going to take place in the Strangereal timeline since it showed an Osean F-22A Raptor engaging an Erusean SU-30M around a space elevator known as the Lighthouse. Then comes in the massive flying wing creation of sorts called the FAS-01 that's powered by multiple propellers and it can carry up to 80 X-47B UAVs. Seeing the plot begin to develop from future trailers will be interesting and I wonder who we'll be playing as in the game as well...possibly another OP ace pilot? Leave a review, and have a Merry Christmas to not only everyone at home, but to our brave men and women fighting overseas, that are unable to celebrate with their families. God bless them all.

Chapter 5 - Survive to the End

 _Best of the Best_

\- Alendai Air Force Base, Alendai, Leasath -

\- March 29th, 2020 1025 hrs -

"You have your mission objectives. Dismissed." ordered the Base Commander to a group of four pilots dressed in pitch black flight suits, the leader saluting the superior officer before he and his squadron left the briefing room in a single file line.

Another group of pilots, six in all, walked in for their set of mission objectives and sat down silently with their flight helmets in their laps. They wore a dark grey flight suit with yellow trim along the sleeves and back, signifying the color that their planes possessed.

"Due to the recent failed attempt to capture the naval port of Challwa, we've decided to initiate an aerial attack on the city of Santa Elva. This however will be a ruse to lure in the two pilots that defeated our forces into a trap alongside their squadrons. You six will then ambush and kill them so they will no longer hamper our forces. Use anything else you mmay require to accomplish your objective. Understood?"

"Yes sir." replied the squadron leader from the middle seat.

"You all are dismissed. Get it done."

\- Directus Public Cemetery, Directus, Ustio -

\- Same Time -

Cipher turned off the engine of his Camaro and slid the keys out of the ignition, making sure to a take a few deeps breaths before he opened the door and stepped out into the sunlight. It was a bright and shining day over the capital city of Ustio, which had become a bustling metropolis full of life and glistening new skyscrapers after the country had managed to tap into the underground resources located underneath Area B7R.

Another event that had taken place was that to build the Stonehenge facility Ustio had annexed some land from Fato and had increased its landmass, building the facility just beyond the Tyrann Mountains in northern Ustio. A plus side to this was that Valais Air Force Base was close by meaning if and when the facility was in need of assistance the 6th Air Division would be there in no time.

He normally made trips down to the cemetery for one reason alone. Well, two if he counted saying hello to Larry. He entered through the front gates and followed the same path he took every week, his head hung low and his eyes always glued to the same two peculiar tombstones that stood out among the normal ones.

He walked through the neatly trimmed grass and came to a halt before two wings dug into the earth with the names and birth and death dates of the individuals buried underneath engraved into the metal surface.

"Hey Buddy...it's good to see you again." said Cipher with a light chuckle after looking at Larry's head marker, the red wing of his old F-15C, for a few seconds.

Then he turned to the one right next to it and took a knee before the black, sheared off wing of the SU-37 Terminator that his wife, Elizabeth, had flown during the tragic attack on St. Petersburg four years ago. To be honest he hadn't cared as much for the people and the city. It was a selfish thought but he didn't care. That dreadful day he had lost a part of him, a part of his _soul_.

"H-Hey...Liz…" he said softly as he removed the old bouquet of flowers from the vase placed beside the wing and placed fresh ones inside.

"Jasper's doing fine, if you were wondering. His grades in school are exceptional and he's thinking about attending the University of Dinsmark like you had. He's wanting to become a pilot. I guess it runs in the family. Hehe...heh." he said at first, not sure of what to say afterwards before he felt his heart begin to ache.

He opened his mouth, but he closed it when he couldn't formulate the words and instead he placed his hand gently against the cool metal surface of her wing and closed his eyes when a shudder reverberated from the tips of his fingers all the way down to the base of his feet. He couldn't do anything to stop himself when the tears started to flow from the corner of his eyes and down his cheeks.

"I...I...I miss you...I miss your voice. I-I miss hearing you every day, seeing the smile on your face and feeling the purity in your heart…" he croaked through sobs as his head rolled forward and he covered his mouth with his other hand.

After at least two minutes he finally regained control of himself and managed to stop, wiping the tears from his cheek and looking back up at Elizabeth's name. He blinked away the last few remnants before he stood back up and dusted some grass off his knee, continuing to look down at her grave as he did.

"You doing alright there, Kid?"

Cipher jumped at the voice and he whirled around, his eyes taking a moment to register who was standing a few feet away from him with his hands in his pockets and a slight smile on his face. The greying hair, five-o'clock aftershave and the Wardog Squadron patch stitched into the brown jacket he wore were all the indicators he needed to recognize who he was.

"Jack?" asked Cipher, his old flight lead when he was pretending to be the rookie Blaze walking up to him and clapping him on the shoulder.

"I heard what happened, and I'm sorry it took this long to say my apologies. Being the Chief Head of Security for the President is hard work after all. I barely get any time off as is." replied Bartlett with a chuckle before he looked down at the two graves resting at his feet and sighed.

"So this is where he went...your Buddy, Larry. He was a great pilot and a good guy to hang around with."

"Yeah...did you...?" asked Cipher as he looked at Bartlett, but he was relieved when he closed his mouth and smiled.

"I won't say a word. I know how it feels." he said.

"Have you talked with Grimm, Nagase and Snow recently? I heard from Pops a few days ago that Snow's running for President." said Cipher while they made their way out of the grass and gravestones to return to the main walkway.

"Really? I never would've guessed Snow could be a politician. He definitely has the charisma to be one though."

"That's what I said." laughed Cipher before he noticed Bartlett rustle something around in his pants pocket and raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for saying hi, but could you tell me the real reason why you came here?"

Bartlett was caught off guard by him saying that and he stopped for a second, shaking his head to the left and right with a grin on his face before he pulled out his phone and unlocked it, going right into a video he had pulled up. "Listen, I know you're retired, but Harling wants you to have a look at this."

Cipher took the phone and looked at it closely when he pressed the play button, watching a high-quality video taken from a jet's onboard camera. His expression morphed from intrigue to doubt when he watched as an OPCM, he recognized the weapon's Griffon missiles based off of how many there were, strike a strange black colored jet.

He paused the video and asked, "What's the point of me watching this?"

"Keep watching." said Bartlett, Cipher looking back at the phone and pressing play again.

That's when his interest was snagged when he watched the strange jet emerge out from the firestorm completely unscathed. Then came the red energy shield of sorts that rippled over the jet's fuselage and vanish soon after, something he had never seen on a plane.

"What kind of jet is this?"

"That's what Harling wants to know. Emmeria's Garuda Team encountered a squadron of four of those things over Northern Aurela when they penetrated restricted airspace and engaged them. That was the result before they quickly escaped." explained Bartlett as he took the phone away from Cipher and pocketed it again. "Do you have any idea what they could be?"

"I've...I've never seen something like that. The only thing similar to that was when I fought Larry in the ADFX-02 Morgan over Avalon Dam in 1995, but that was an ECM Jamming shield. I've never heard nor seen of something that can totally negate a swarm of missiles that have been tested _and_ proven to literally shred an aircraft apart to pieces." said Cipher as he rubbed his chin and racked his brain for a possible solution.

"Are you saying that this could be the work of the A.W.W.N.B?" asked Bartlett, Cipher shaking his head.

"Not exactly. They may have had some advanced technology but nothing like that. And with that plane design too, it possessed a C.O.F.F.I.N equipped armored cockpit like the Falken, but it looked more like a hybrid of a B-2A Spirit and an old Belkan jet fighter used during the latter stages of the Osean War of 1905 called the HO-229."

"Well, there's something else you should know too. One of the pilots made contact with Garuda's flight lead after the engagement. He said "Your time will come, Irregular. Count on it.". It's possibly a reference to how he's from the defunct Project ACES." revealed Bartlett, the new tidbit of information making Cipher look back at him in astonishment.

"That's impossible. No one else should have knowledge of that." denied Cipher. "But...then again…before Dvornik, the former leader of Estovakia, died after Nicolai and Talisman had shot him, he uttered "Hail Waldemarr", as in the leader of the Rald Party, a Belkan political party that held ties with them..."

"So...what _are_ you saying?" asked Bartlett.

Cipher tapped his foot on the pavement a few times in deep thought, crossing his arms a second later and sighing after he kept reaching the same conclusion over and over in his mind. He tried to deny it but it was starting to seem more real after reach time he though of it.

"What I'm saying is that there's a slight possibility that the A.W.W.N.B didn't die with Anton and the rest of the organization over Oured nine years ago. They could've established cells across the globe, and those four fighters could've been in one of them. And if they're showing themselves now...they could be planning to make a resurgence." said Cipher after he stopped tapping his foot and glanced at Bartlett with a stone-cold gaze.

\- Santa Elva -

\- March 29th, 2020 1200 hrs -

"Alright, we've arrived at the city. Keep your eyes peeled for any enemy aircraft." ordered Church after he entered the airspace with his squadron, Falco 1 and his wingmen following behind soon after.

They had been sent to the city of Santa Elva after getting word of plan from Leasath to launch an attack on the city with bomber aircraft. Church had doubted the idea however considering the city itself held no important military buildings, so the thought of Leasath just openly attacking a city seemed off.

He still followed orders however and just stayed vigilant, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It was a war after all, anything could happen.

"I see nothing on radar. Do you think they got false info?" asked Gryphus 4, concerned about the validity of the tip they had received.

"They might be waiting for a surprise attack like what they did at Challwa." said Falco 1 after scanning the cloudy skies above for any sign of the enemy. "We had to wait thirty minutes before they attacked, so keep your heads on a swivel."

"Well, if you say so…" said Roy in doubt before they completed a full circle over the city and moved on towards the coast where the cloud coverage was more concentrated.

" _Something doesn't seem right here...it's not like at Challwa, where we knew they were coming. Here...I have no idea what's about to happen._ " thought Church suspiciously as he looked from one side of his plane to the other, having to squint his eyes to see through the grey clouds.

All of a sudden his eardrums were bombarded with static that made them ring and he shut his eyes tight to try and block it out. He managed to withstand the initial pain and looked down at his radar, watching it go fuzzy and completely unreadable while his HUD became distorted.

"What the hell was that?!" shouted Roy in discomfort.

"It's a trap!" yelled Falco 1 when several enemy fighters dropped down from the clouds and completely surrounded them, taking full advantage of their crippled state.

"Chimera 1 to all fighters. Shoot them all down. Make sure none of them survive." ordered the lead aircraft of the squadron, their yellow and black YR-99s speeding right for them.

"Stay focused! The enemy is all around us!" said Church as he quickly regained his senses and dove to the right to avoid a missile from one of the enemy fighters.

"Who are these guys anyway!" exclaimed Rick with a grunt. "And why do they want to kill us so much!?"

"I recognize these these guys just by their paint-jobs. They're the same guys that helped take over Griswall, and judging by what their flight lead said we're dealing with Leasath's ace squadron, the best of the best." said Falco 1 with a growl after he came to and engaged one of the Leasath fighters with furious intent.

"Ace squadron?! You have got to be shitting me..." muttered Gryphus 6 as the Chimera Squadron attacked them full force, their advanced fighter jets out maneuvering Church and the Gryphus squadron easily.

This was the first skilled enemy they've encountered that fought with unrivaled ferocity and power, so they couldn't afford the mess up here and be killed. Aurelia's hopes of ending the war and reclaiming Griswall from Leasath's clutches rested on their survival.

"Fox 3!"

Church launched three XLAAs at the Chimera fighters he had locked on to and cursed when they shook them off easily. He corkscrewed down and away when his plane's missile alert sirens went off, the enemy that snuck up behind him to make the shot breaking away to find another angle of attack.

"Give them no breathing room. Overwhelm and annihilate them." ordered Chimera 1 darkly after watching the fight with the Aurelian pilots from afar, paying close attention to the pilot in the lead Raptor.

He felt as if that particular pilot had a knack to him, something that gave him an edge in battle that could prove deadly to any enemy he would go up against if not put in check and defended against.

"It's gonna take a lot more then some flashy maneuvers and some high-tech fighters to bring me down!" said Church definitely with a grin as he avoided another swarm of missiles and caught his attacker off guard with a quick high-G turn.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed before he struck the Chimera pilot's Forneus in the left air intake with a missile and took him out of the fight.

"Chimera 4 is down! That bastard!" snarled one of the Leasath pilots in anger, the others following suit with an increased focus on Church with a desire to kill him as retribution.

Chimera 1, however, was a different story. He was totally astounded at how quick he had out-turned their state-of-the-art fighter jets with an F-22A, a jet that sooner or later will be replaced by another, more advanced jet. It was if the line that separated new and old instantly became void and he expertly knew how to take out a more powerful opponent in an instant, drawing on the weaknesses of his own aircraft and turning them into his strengths.

" _This guy, he's no ordinary pilot. He's definitely a lethal threat, one that requires more...force._ " he thought to himself. "All Chimera fighters, retreat from the fight and return to base."

"But sir-"

"Silence. You dare disobey a direct order?" hissed Chimera 1 to the pilot who spoke out.

He shut up instantly and muttered his confirmation before retreating with the rest of his squadron away from the airspace as full speed, Church and the other Aurelian pilots watching in utter bewilderment.

"Uh, what just happened?" asked Rick after they had disappeared from radar. "Did we just win?"

"I think we scared them off because we're just that badass." said Roy with a snicker before Church hushed them up with a sharp cough.

"Don't get cocky. Those Chimera pilots are elite aces, they wouldn't retreat unless they had a good reason. We'll be seeing them again, I guarantee it."


	7. Interception

A/N Oh thank god we're nearing the final missions from Skies of Incursion, and than I'll be able to go on to the actual missions that take place in Ace Combat X, which should be easier to write. And it seems like something's brewing now that Cipher's given his idea on the origin of the unknown fighters that attacked Talisman and Marcus.

Chapter 6 - Interception

 _Hidden Threat_

"After successfully fending off one of Leasath's most skilled squadrons, we've received reports from across the country that pockets of the Aurelian military have begun to fight and push back against the Leasath forces that invaded our country. To assist in the effort we'll be sending a small strike team to destroy a supply facility behind enemy lines so as to disrupt our enemy's distribution network. Be careful, however, there is an extensive radar network and AA defense system established around the entire area. Getting detected is like signing your own death certificate. Good luck."

\- Mt. Nevera, Aurelia -

\- March 30th, 2020 0622 hrs -

"Our target is an enemy controlled resupply complex up ahead. Stick low to the ground and don't enter any of the radar coverage zones marked on the radar." said Falco 1 as he and Church dove down towards the rocky terrain near the foot of Mt. Nevera.

They were the only fighters sent from Sachana to eliminate the facility for two reasons. One was to reduce the probability of being detected by the enemy, and the other was that they were the best pilots with the highest amount of skill among their forces.

This operation depended greatly on stealth, the element of surprise, and overwhelming power. Who wouldn't send their aces to get the job done?

"Roger. Let's get started. Initiating radio silence." replied Church before he switched his radio off and took a deep breath.

It was just him and his thoughts now.

As they soared just a couple of feet above the treetops, he took a few seconds to look around at the darkened landscape and take it all in. He marvelled at how serene and untouched the forests were. The trees blew softly in the wind and the morning dew began to sparkle once the sun awoke from its slumber and peeked out over the horizon.

" _The scenery is so beautiful out here, there's nothing like this back at Cape Aubrey._ " he thought in awe.

He quickly came back to reality and pushed his thoughts to the side and made a wide turn to avoid entering a large coverage zone to catch back up with Falco 1. In the short amount of time he spent absorbed in his own mind they had travelled half the distance to their target and were growing nearer with every passing second. They had been lucky so far with not getting detected, so Church could only wish for their luck to continue.

" _Let's hope they don't have a lot of defense forces stationed there._ "

After a few minutes of flying in total silence, the two Aurelian pilots spotted the resupply facility in the distance and armed their weapons. They cancelled their radio silence and Church heard Falco 1 let out a deep breath to calm himself for the coming battle.

"You ready?" he asked, Church licking his dry lips once before he tightened his grip around his flight stick.

"Let's do this."

In an instant, once they had passed by the final radar detection ring and entered the airspace over the facility, they unleashed a swarm of missiles and bombs down on the unfortunate soldiers who happened to be stationed there. In the darkness of the mountain's shadow several mushroom clouds sprouted up from the factories and warehouses, the air raid sirens immediately kicking in once someone realized what was going on.

"SAM units on your left!" shouted Church.

"Already on it!"

\- Spring Sea -

\- Same Time -

"This is Mobius 2 to Carrier Fort Grace, we're approaching the unidentified unknown trespasser now."

"Roger that Mobius 2, be careful. Fort Grace, out."

The leader of the famous Mobius Squadron, the same that was formed at the end of the Usea Continental War in honor of the I.S.A.F's top ace Mobius 1, led two of the other members in a three man squadron out over the pristine waters of the Spring Sea towards an unidentified radar signature that had been detected around ten minutes ago. And considering how an unknown enemy had penetrated the airspace near the Stonehenge unit in Aurelia, they weren't taking any chances and had called in a detachment of the Erusean Navy, comprised of a single carrier and AEGIS cruiser that would be just a call away in case they needed any assistance.

"I heard a lot of strange things about what those unknown fighters could do, like they had apparently survived a missile that can rip apart fighter jets." said Mobius 3. "Do you think that a plane could actually do that?"

"Well, we've seen some pretty strange stuff ourselves, so it could definitely be possible. We'll be fine, though." replied back Mobius 2 to reaffirm his comrade's confidence, but deep down he himself was in doubt.

If the Garuda Team, world renowned just like they were for their actions in the war they participated in, couldn't take down the intruders...what about them? Could they even lay a _finger_ on the unknown intruders?

"One mile out, we should be able to see them here shortly." reported Mobius 4.

Mobius 2 tensed up and narrowed his eyes as they approached a lingering cloud, their three Raptors passing through the white puffy object and emerging out the back with a rush of air to...nothing whatsoever. He looked around at least three times before it registered that there was in fact no unknown fighter jets in the air whatsoever.

"There's no one here. Are you sure this is the place?" asked Mobius 3.

"It is...and my radar is still showing the unknown." said Mobius 4, the response making a chill travel up and down his spine.

He turned into a slow bankright and looked down at the tranquil waters below, and true enough he spotted something pitch black poking through the surface and remaining utterly still, as if it were a lonely island.

Only there were no recorded islands out here this far from the mainland, and considering how he could see the twinkle of the sun's light reflecting off of it he knew that whatever it was...it sure as hell wasn't an island.

"Tally ho on our intruder. He's directly below us, the black object on the surface. Could be a naval vessel."

"Roger that Mobius 2. Let's go say hello." replied Mobius 4 as they dropped their altitude and approached the water at half their top speed.

They levelled out after reaching four hundred feet and they began to circle the unknown object, quickly discovering that it indeed was a naval vessel of some kind, with a curved and roundish form that gave it an alien look. There were no windows or viewports built into it, so they could only wonder just what kind of ship it was.

"Fort Grace to Mobius, we've confirmed that you've met the unknown intruder. Can you identify?"

"This is Mobius 2 to Carrier Fort Grace. To be honest, we have no idea what it is. It looks like some kind of ship, but it's something we've never seen before." replied Mobius 2 back to their carrier, who was resting comfortably with its battle group around ten miles out from their location.

"Roger that Mobius 2. Inform us of anything new. Fort Grace out."

The mood quickly changed however when after making another arc around the unknown vessel a plume of water emerged from the surface, followed by a large cylindrical object shooting up from the depths and igniting a booster at its base.

"Shit it's a missile! We have a missile out of the water!" shouted Mobius 4 when the weapon soared into the sky, leaving a trail of grey smoke in its wake.

Mobius 2 watched the missile rise higher and higher before the fuel it contained was totally consumed, the top blowing off and to their horror a swarm of missiles were launched out into the air in a fashion similar to a blooming flower and instantly zoomed back down towards the three pilots.

"Evade!" he yelled out frantically, the three pilots starting to fly erratically to try and avoid the storm of missiles that came down from the sky and pursued them with vicious intent.

From the sheer amount of missiles chasing them he could only assume that the first unknown missile had contained at least eighty of the little bastards, and it was only a matter of time before either they were killed or the missiles lost track and they survived. It all rested on their skill as pilots and a huge amount of pure luck.

While they were preoccupied with the missile swarm, the unknown black metallic object in the water below them had slipped underneath the surface of the water and had vanished from view along with the radar signature it gave off as well blinking out of existence. It was if it had never existed in the first place, and that it had merely been a ghost.

"Jesus these things just won't give up!" cursed Mobius 3 in frustration after avoiding two missiles. "How long can these things fly for?!"

"Just keep flying, they'll fail eventually!" shouted Mobius 2.

Thankfully his statement proved true when all at once the swarm of missiles all died and dropped out of the air like flies, the three pilots finally breathing easy. They formed back up and established a link with Fort Grace to inform them of what had just occurred. This is something that couldn't be ignored.

"It's time we contacted him too."

"Who would that be sir?" asked Mobius 4, intrigued as to who Mobius 2 was referring to.

"Isn't it obvious? We'll have to contact our flight lead, Mobius 1."

\- Unknown Location -

\- 2349 hrs -

"So why'd you call me here? I'm assuming you have another job for me?" asked the tophat man with a sneer as he sat down at the desk and crossed his legs, the other person sitting behind the desk glaring at him.

"It's quite a simple one really, one you're already accustomed to." replied the man as he opened up a laptop resting on the desk and turned it on, the soft white glow of its screen illuminating his face in the dimly lit room. "You're going to kill someone for us."

"Oh, I just _love_ doing that. Who's the lucky one today?" he asked, genuinely interested.

The man twirled the laptop around so that the face he had pulled up on the screen was visible to him and leaned back in his chair, resting his hands comfortably in his lap.

"Do you know a man by the name of Aleksandar Costner?"


	8. Resistance

A/N The plot continues to grow deeper and deeper. Huehuehuehue. And the reason why this chapter is out so early is because I decided I wanted to let it go early. Enjoy you guys.

Chapter 7 - Resistance

 _Pushing Back_

\- Sachana Air Force Base -

\- March 30th, 2020 0900 hrs -

"We were successful in destroying the enemy supply facility and put their forces in a major bind, allowing our own allies to begin their own counterattacks and push back Leasath's troops. This air base and its forces are not exempt from this joint push, with our job being one of the most important." started the Base Commander once everyone settled into their seats.

"On the southwest end of mainland Aurelia rests Port Patterson. Thankfully the port has not fallen into enemy hands, and our military has decided to pool most of our resources into building a fighting force centered around our surviving naval vessels, which are stationed at the port. Reconnaissance has shown that our enemy has caught wind of our operation and dispatched ships of the Leasath Navy backed up with aerial support, suggesting that they plan to surround the port and our fleet. Destroy the enemy fleet and escort our ships all the to the capital to finally bring an end to this war."

\- Port Patterson, Aurelia -

\- March 30th, 2020 1019 hrs -

"There's the fleet. Just look at the size of it!" exclaimed Roy as he and the Gryphus Squadron approached the port alongside Falco Squadron at top speed, intending to reach the port early.

"I can't believe we're already nearing the end of this war. All we have to do is get past the Leasath fleet and we're on our way to Griswall!" said Gryphus 4 excitedly.

"Don't lose focus. We still have a job to do here, and we're gonna make sure it's done right." stated Falco 1 to reprimand him, Church chuckling at how quickly Gryphus 4 hushed up.

They arrived over the port in a few minutes and circled patiently over the fleet Aurelia had amassed to take back their capital and bring a quick end to the war. They had one _Nimitz_ -class Aircraft Carrier stationed in the port, and the rest of its battle group consisted of a couple _Ticonderoga_ -class cruisers, at least four _Hatakaze_ -class Guided Missile Destroyers, six _Cassard_ -class frigates, and a single _Iowa_ -class Battleship that acted as the carrier's personal bodyguard.

"This is the Carrier Beacon to allied air forces. We appreciate your assistance in the coming battle ahead. We'll be departing from the port shortly."

"Roger that Beacon, we'll be ready and waiting." replied Church before he settled into his flight seat and entered a long-swooping arc around the fleet with his squadron and Falco Squadron.

True to their word, the fleet was combat ready in under five minutes and soon enough they had left the port and had begun the long journey around the southern tip of Aurelia along the eastern coast up towards the Danern Straits, and from there, to Griswall. The end of the war was within their grasp.

\- Costner Residence, Anfang, Belka -

\- Same Time -

Cipher awoke with a start when he heard the soft rapping of knuckles on the front door, his hands moving to his eyes to rub away the tiredness in them. He picked himself up out of his chair and yawned as he reached for the remote to turn off the T.V before shuffling over towards door.

When he reached the door he yawned again and turned the knob, stepping a little to the left to allow the door to swing past him and into the crook of his arm while he looked out at the person standing on the welcome mat. Instantly he knew just by how the guy dressed that he wasn't any ordinary person.

"Are you Aleksandar Costner?" the man asked as he lifted his head up to allow Cipher a perfect view of his face.

It unnerved him slightly, but he kept the reaction hidden well, "Who's asking?"

"Doesn't matter. What we need to do though is talk. Can I come inside?"

"Sure...I guess." replied Cipher as he stepped aside to let the man in through the door.

He rested his cane against the wall beside the door and entered the living room, choosing to sit down on the couch and face Cipher as he sat back down in his recliner and leaned back. He also took off his top hat and rested it on the ottoman placed between the T.V stand and the furniture.

"So...what's your name? And why the clothes? This isn't the eighteen hundreds, y'know." asked Cipher with a slight grin, his guest chuckling as he rested his hands in his lap.

"I'll tell you, of course, I just need you to promise me one thing." asked the man, Cipher thinking for a few moments before nodding.

"I need you to keep this meeting secret. Don't tell anyone, not even your own son."

Cipher's eyes visibly grew larger in surprise when the man mentioned his son, considering he should have no idea that he had a son in the first place. "How did you know I had a son?"

"I know everything there is to know about you Alek, or should I say Cipher? Mobius 1? Blaze? How about _Patient Zero_?" asked the man, Cipher's expression quickly morphing into a scowl when he referred to him as the designation he received from Project ACES.

"You...how do you know about Project ACES? No one should have knowledge about that."

"Like I said, I know everything there is to know about you. I also know that your "brother", Ethan Costner, callsign Talisman, is in Aurelia right now with the Razgriz aboard the P-1112 Aigaion as we speak, guarding the Stonehenge Unit in the event the forces of either Aurelia or Leasath attempt to take over the railgun installation for their use in the war." the man continued without a wasted breath, Cipher about to respond before he saw Jasper walk down the stairs and peer over the railing.

"Dad?"

"Go upstairs Jasper. I'm just talking with a...friend." he said to his son with a hand motion, Jasper nodding once before he turned around and disappeared.

After he was gone Cipher leaned forward and fixated his cold hard gaze on the man, disregarding the freakish smile the man wore from cheek bone to cheek bone and asked, "Just who are you?"

"Ah yes, excuse my manners. Just call me Jack." said the man, Cipher narrowing his eyes and silently urging him to continue. "And all you need to know is that I am an assassin, a very good one at that."

Jack sighed deeply before he leaned forward as well and locked gazes with Cipher, his grin falling and his visible left eye, its red color making it glow with evil intent, twitching slightly. "And, unfortunately, my employers have hired me to kill you."

Cipher's heart skipped a beat and he stared at Jack, who was sitting calmly in the couch as if telling him he was a highly successful assassin that had been hired to kill _him_ was just a simple matter.

His eyes flicked over to the small table resting beside his recliner, his Glock 17 sitting on its surface just inches away, but before he could try to reach over and grab it Jack chuckled and leaned back.

"Please, I do hope you will refrain from trying to shoot me. If I had wanted to kill you, I could've done it twenty different ways as soon as you had opened the door." he said matter-of-factly, Cipher glancing back at the assassin and raising an eyebrow.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"It's simple really, if you would let me finish." said Jack with a slight growl. "Yes, my employers hired me to kill you. _But_...I'm not going to. It's something that I don't want to do, and after seeing how much your son cares about you, it would be selfish of me to take his father away from him."

"So then, why did you come here if you're not going to kill me?" questioned Cipher, still suspicious about Jack's intentions.

"I'm going to tell you some things that are going on in the shadows, things that the world has absolutely _no_ idea about. Things that if it's discovered I told you about them...I would be killed on the spot. I highly doubt that last part, though. Interested?" asked Jack with a grin again, Cipher narrowing his eyes once more before he returned to a relaxed position in his recliner and crossed his arms.

"I am. Go ahead."

Jack chuckled as he got into a comfortable position himself and took in a deep breath, "Well, let's start from beginning. You remember the Osean War of 1905, correct?"

\- Aurelian Sea, 18 miles away from Sachana Air Force Base -

\- March 30th, 2020 1130 hrs -

"Enemy fleet detected three miles out, approaching fast. It consists of one *Iowa-class Battleship, three *Ticonderoga-class cruisers, and three *Georges Leygues-class frigates. Enemy air forces accompanying them are comprised of several squadrons of Rafale Ms." reported the Carrier Beacon's IFF operator, Church taking a deep breath and getting ready for the coming fight.

The enemy Leasath fleet coming straight at them was the last obstacle that stood in the path to liberating their capital and pushing the rest of Leasath's forces out of their country, officially ending the war. It was exhilarating to think about, and the sooner it was over the sooner they could all prepare for the eventual arrival of the Odysseus Asteroids.

"Falco 1 to Gryphus 1, we'll handle the ships. You guys take care of the fighters."

"Roger Falco 1, take care of yourself." replied Church as he increased his altitude, his wingmen following suite, while Falco 1 and his squadron dropped down to engage the oncoming Leasath fleet.

"When do I ever not take care of myself?" asked Falco 1 with a chuckle.

'Mhmm, yeah, sure. Alright boys, and girl," said Church in respect for their one female member. "Let's show them why they shouldn't mess with the Aurelan Air Force! Engage all targets and bring them down!"

"Roger! Let me at 'em!"

They spread out into attack formation and met the enemy Leasath fighters head on, the two opposing forces clashing in a duel of superiority that would decide who continued on towards their objectives. Would it be the Aurelians, who would be able to liberate their capital and end the war? Or the Leasaths, who if allowed to pass by would blockade Port Patterson and open up another front on the mainland, effectively entrapping their forces and bringing them closer to victory.

It all hung in the balance, and both sides were quite aware of this fact.

"Hammer them! Do not let the Aurelians pass!" ordered the Leasath commanding officer on board the _Iowa_ -class Battleship, its massive 16-inch guns opening fire on the Aurelian fleet with multiple resounding booms.

"Open fire!" ordered the Beacon's captain as the Aurelian fleet returned fire at their enemy, shells and missiles from each fleet flying out over the bare patch of water that separated them this way and that.

Church weaved through the oncoming missiles from the enemy Rafale Ms and shot one down with his gun, moving onto the next while his wingmen backed him and kept anyone from getting on his tail. It was just six of them going up against at least fifty pilots, and they were blowing through them as if it were the easiest thing in the world. And down below the same was happening with Falco Squadron going against the Leasath fleet vessels.

The operation was going smoothly and they would seen be done and on their way to Griswall.

"Keep pushing forward! Griswall is calling for us!"

On board the Leasath battleship the captain in charge of the fleet was beginning to realize that they wouldn't be able to win this fight. He approached a dashboard and picked up a phone, quickly dialing a number and raising it up to his ear. The dial tone played for a few seconds before the person at the other end picked it up and waited for him to speak.

"Sir, the Aurelian fleet proved to be stronger then expected. We won't be able to hold them back."

"Very well. Get your forces out of there and enter our waters to the East. We'll activate Plan B."

"Yes sir, Supreme Commander." replied the Captain before he hung up and looked out through the bridge's glass windows at the battle outside.

"All forces, the order to retreat has been given. Return to our waters immediately."

"They're running away! We showed them what for!" exclaimed Rick with a bout of laughter as the remaining Leasath forces pulled away from the engagement and began to retreat, allowing them to pass by and continue on their way.

"Nothing can stop us now!"

\- Costner Residence, Anfang, Belka -

\- Thirty Minutes Later -

Jack finally finished and he rested his hands in his lap, Cipher blinking a few times before he fell back into his chair and held his hand up by a hand, a look of total shock plastered on his face. He was utterly speechless, unable to think of anything to say.

"That's...that's horrible. And it's all true…?" he asked, Jack nodding once solemnly.

"One hundred percent." he said, Cipher gulping and shaking his head a few times in disbelief.

"I...I can't believe someone could be that much of a...a.."

"A monster? I had no idea either...before I became one myself." said Jack with a heavy sigh. "That's why I became who I am today, for that reason exactly. He _needs_ to die...and for the past four years I've been planning and figuring out a way to kill him and make him pay."

"But what about all the people that you killed? Don't you feel sorry for them?" asked Cipher, trying to see if the man before him still had any shred of his former humanity left.

Jack blinked once before he sighed and closed his eyes, " I made a promise to myself and to _her_ that I will kill him, no matter the cost. I don't care how many people I have to kill. But every night, when I try to go to sleep, all I see are their faces...staring back at me with lifeless expressions. They'll haunt me for the rest of my life."

Jack rubbed his face with his gloved hand and shuddered vigorously, his usual calm and collected composure dropping for a split second to reveal his guilt-ridden side, one he has never shown to anyone before.

"So what are you gonna do now?" asked Cipher as Jack recovered himself and coughed to clear his throat.

"Return back to my employers and tell them I couldn't kill you." said Jack as he stood up off the couch and grabbed his top hat, promptly returning it to his head and pulling the bill don't at the front ever so slightly. "It was nice to meet you Alek."

Cipher stood up and shook hands with Jack, the two sharing a smile before he walked Jack out to the door, opening it for him and handing him his cane.

"Oh, and Jack."

The assassin turned around and raised an eyebrow, Cipher looking back over his shoulder to make sure Jasper hadn't snuck down to listen in. "I...I have a feeling I'm going to be back in the fight again if what you say is true, so if...well...if I ever get killed, I want you to take care of Jasper."

"What do you mean?" asked Jack, confused.

"I'm going to name you as his Godfather, so that if I'm gone he still has some family left. Would you do that for me?" asked Cipher, Jack becoming taken aback at first by the prospect before he chuckled and nod his head.

"Sure, friend. I would be glad to."

\- Danern Straits, 25 Miles out from Griswall -

\- Two Hours Later -

"Twenty five miles out from Griswall and counting. We're almost there guys." said Church as they entered the stretch of water between Aurelia and the Danern Islands, which lied in Leasath's territory.

"This is the Carrier Beacon to allied air squadrons up above. We no longer need your escort, thank you for your assistance."

"Roger that Beacon, we'll see you at Griswall." replied Falco 1 as they broke away from the carrier battle group and started to fly towards the mainland, dropping their altitude as they did so.

Church looked back over and could see the islands from where they flew, being the only objects that rested on the sparkling sea out in the distance. It gave him an uneasy feeling that they were leaving the fleet this close to enemy territory, and the thought of a sneak attack crept that crept into his mind only made it worse.

He looked at the islands for a few more seconds before blinked when something caught his eye down below them. He lifted up his visor and squinted to try and make out the thing he had saw, watching as _something_ seemed to fly through the air and distort the very land and objects around it. And he could tell by its shape that it was very, very large.

"What the…" he muttered under his breath in suspicion.

All of a sudden the invisible object turned into a massive black aircraft of sorts with huge wings and a tail that possessed four vertical stabilizers, giving it an overall look similar to that of a graceful bird with black feathers.

Before any of them could react a large missile was fired out of a silo on the aircraft and made a loop in the air, flying straight down at the fleet at break-neck speed.

The missile reached a point above the fleet and all of a sudden it exploded in a bright flash of blue light, a few seconds later a devastating shockwave followed that shook their aircrafts vigorously and caused them to all go dead for a few seconds with severe ringing in their ears.

"What the hell was that?!" yelled Falco 1, Church blinking a few times out of shock when the blue light faded away and a horrific sight appeared.

"T-The fleet...it's gone."


	9. Gandr

A/N Bye bye Aurelian fleet. As you can guess from the chapter title, the weapon Leasath that introduced into the war with a stellar first performance is the prototype Gandr Flying Fortress, the precursor to the Gleipnir Flying Fortress. Now on Acepedia it states that the Gandr does not possess the Optical Camouflage and Shock Cannon like the Gleipnir does, but I changed it to where yes it does not use the Shock Cannon, but it does utilize Optical Camouflage, albeit for a shorter timespan, around 2 minutes or something like that. Leave a fav and review telling me what you think so far.

Chapter 8 - Gandr

 _Black Death_

In a split second, the entire Aurelian fleet, the beacon of hope for liberating Griswall and finally bringing an end to the war, vanished with the explosion of a single missile. When Church and the others returned to their location after everything had settled down, they were horrified to find the smoking and trashed remains of every _single_ ship they had protected since leaving Port Patterson. Even the Beacon, the flagship and pride of the Aurelian Navy, was lying in the water on its side with several plumes of fire and smoke rising up from a huge gash through the middle of its hull.

"What kind of missile was that…?" asked Roy, terrified at the destructive power it contained.

"It was able to wipe out our entire fleet in the blink of an eye…" muttered Falco 1 before he growled, angry at himself for leaving the fleet and angry at Leasath for destroying it.

"Considering our proximity to the Danern Islands, I can guess that our attacker came from there and is on their way back as we speak. If we hurry, we can catch up to him." said Church after glancing over at the islands in the distance.

"Roger that. Let's make 'em pay." snarled Rick as they all pulled away from the graveyard of ships and blasted their afterburners towards the islands in hot pursuit of the weapon that had eradicated the fleet.

It took them at least two minutes to cover the distance to the halfway point between the islands and the coast, drawing very near to the boundary line between Aurelian territory and Leasath's territory, when they finally spotted it. The massive black aircraft that Church had seen fire the missile.

"Enemy air forces have appeared on radar! They followed us!"

"Dammit all, the Optical Camouflage is still offline for another ten minutes...we have no choice. Turn the ship around and engage the Aurelian forces!" ordered the craft's captain, the gigantic beast of a ship beginning to make a wide turn.

"It's coming around to attack us. Be cautious of those missiles it can fire, we have no idea what kind of damage it'll do to us." said Falco 1 as they got ready to engage the unknown aircraft.

"Show them what the Gandr can do."

" _So that's its name...the Gandr._ " thought Church when multiple targets began to appear on their radar, coming from the massive aircraft itself. "*And damn is it well protected."

The Gandr boasted several AA and AAM defense stations built into its hull, and since it wasn't as big as the P-1112 Aigaion from Anea it could maneuver a whole lot better. It was going to be one tough bird to bring down.

As soon as they were within range of a lock-on, the Gandr opened fire on them with its defensive armaments, a storm of bullets screaming past their cockpits with a distinct whistling sound while their missile alert sirens warned them of the aircraft's AAM systems attempting to track them. Church dove down to avoid an arc of gunfire and he glanced up at the underbelly of the massive aircraft, swearing under his breath when he spotted several silos open up and launch three SAAM missiles directly at him.

"Shit this thing is bristling with guns...this is gonna take ages to shoot down!" growled Gryphus 6 in frustration as she shook off one out of three missiles tailing her.

All of a sudden the two still left tailing her were destroyed, with Falco 1 zooming past her and firing a missile directly into an AAM on the side of the Gandr and eliminating it. "Throw caution out the window and don't think! Let your instincts take control and don't hold back!"

Church was in awe of how quick Falco 1 was at protecting Gryphus 6 and he shook himself out of his temporary stupor, following his example and assaulting the Gandr with everything he had.

"We're not gonna let them get away with killing our friends!" he shouted as he pummeled the flying fortress, destroying any AA system he locked on to and evading anything fired back up at him.

Soon enough, the other pilots from both squadrons rallied behind their flight leads and attacked the Gandr full-force, whittling down bit by bit with every missiles they sent flying into its armored hull. Several trails of smoke began to emerge from the damaged flying fortress, and the captain inside was beginning to weigh his options.

"Can we activate Optical Camouflage and escape the area?"

"No sir, Optical Camouflage systems have been damaged beyond repair. Our engines are still functioning at full capacity however."

"Alright. Launch an SWBM and quickly drop us to low altitudes." he ordered, his crewmen inside the bridge quickly getting to work.

"A missile silo just opened up on top of that behemoth!" yelled Roy when all of a sudden the same missile that wiped out their fleet was shot out in a flash. "Shit, they fired another one of those missiles!"

"What are we going to do?" asked Gryphus 4, at a loss of what to do.

Church was about to say something before Falco 1 sighed to himself, "Church, get your wingmen and mine out of here. I'll stay behind and finish off this thing."

"That's crazy! You'll be killed!" he shouted back, but Falco 1 had already made up his mind when he began to shoot at the Gandr's engines and render them inoperable.

"Our engines have been damaged! We can't escape!"

"Go! There's no time! If you don't leave now you'll all die!"

"But captain-"

"GO!" yelled Falco 1 to his second-in-command, Church gulping once before he turned his jet around and gunned it to get away from them.

"All fighters follow me!" he ordered, his wingmen following him without question while it took the other members of Falco Squadron a few moments to comply.

Before they got too far away from radio contact, Falco 1 contacted Church for probably the last time in his life and imparted unto him his dying wish. "Church...you're gonna be the one to end this war. Don't let my sacrifice be for naught."

Church sucked in a breath and closed his eyes to hold back the tears as his first friend, the one person who understood him the most, cut himself off from their radio network and willingly accepted his fate at the hands of destiny.

" _You got it...I'll end it. No matter what!_ "

Falco 1 finally damaged the last remaining engine aboard the Gandr and looked up, smiling softly when the missile the flying fortress had fired push itself through the cloud barrier and rocket down toward them. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his flight chair, letting out a heavy breath as he let go of the flight stick and accepted the reality of his death staring at him just beyond the horizon.

" _It was a good run while it lasted…_ "

The missile entered the space between him and the Gandr and seemed to float in the air for a split second before, in a flash of blue light, everything within its blast radius was instantly vaporized and reduced to flaming chunks of metal. The shockwave produced left nothing left in its wake, both Falco 1 and the Gandr vanishing off the radar and becoming nonexistent.

"Church...they're gone." murmured Roy after glancing down at his radar noticing that both of their signatures had disappeared.

"R-Roger...come on, let's get back to Sachana." replied Church in a tone so low it was almost inaudible as they returned to the resting place of their fleet, which by now had sunk underneath the waves and found their spots on the ocean floor.

What started as a road to freedom and the end to the war had ended in a horrible catastrophe, with the destruction of the entire Aurelian Fleet at the hands of an experimental Leasath weapon.

Unfortunately, it wasn't over yet.

"Hold on...we've got several unknown radar signatures heading right for us from the Danern Islands!"

"What? Who is it this time?!" sputtered Rick as Church wrenched his neck around and after adjusting his gaze he growled under his breath.

"It's them...the Chimera Squadron." he snarled, the now eight man elite Leasath squadron in their yellow and black YR-99s causing wave upon wave of anger to course through his veins.

"Chimera 1 to all fighters, shoot down the enemy fighters that destroyed the Gandr." ordered the flight lead as they split apart into two separate squadrons and engaged both the Gryphus Squadron and the remaining three Falco Squadron pilots.

They were confident in their abilities as pilots and confident in the fact their fighters were more advanced than theirs and more powerful. There was one thing though they forgot to add into their attack strategy. The Aurelian flight lead commanding the squadron of F-22As had just lost a dear friend of his, and seeing them made his rage boil over inside and turn him into a ruthless killing machine that could not be stopped.

To Chimera 1's horror, Church wove through their lines and shot down any Leasath fighter that happened to be in the line of fire, and in no time at all his once elite air squadron, feared among the Aurelian forces, had been reduced to just him against nine really, *really pissed off pilots.

"Gentlemen?" asked Church darkly as he set his sights on the enemy flight lead and grinned madly. " _Kill._ "

\- Sentry Island, Danern Straits, Democratic Republic of Leasath -

\- One Hour Later -

"Sir, the Gandr was destroyed just outside our boundary lines in Aurelian Waters. It was unable to escape and was subsequently destroyed by its own Shock Wave Ballistic Missile." reported an officer to Navarro, who nodded and with a hand motion sent the man out of his office.

"What a shame. It was a beautiful piece of engineering if I do say so myself." said Jack with a sneer as he glanced over at Navarro from his spot up against the wall in a corner of the room.

Navarro shivered slightly at his unnerving smile and cleared his throat, hiding his nervousness behind a facade of confidence. "No matter, it was merely a prototype. The real culmination of this project is already ready for combat and can be sent out at a moment's notice. It has considerable advantages over the Gandr in both operating systems and armaments."

Jack chuckled as he pushed himself off the wall and approached the desk, glaring down at the general with his one visible red eye.

"That's good. Because you do know what would happen if you fail and don't provide a good product… _correct?_ " asked Jack with his wicked smile, Navarro gulping again in terror.

"Y-Yes, I do." he replied with a stutter, Jack taking joy out of terrorizing the general and taking a few steps back.

"Very well. I'll be back in a week to check up on the production of the second part."

Navarro slumped back in his chair, losing all composure whatsoever, after Jack finally left the room and closed the door behind him. That man absolutely terrified him with his personality and his Glasgow Smile.

He rested his elbows on the desk and massaged his temples to try and make a headache he had just developed go away, his mind drifting back to old memories and the very first time he had met Jack and *him.

" _Dammit, father...why did you have to go and join them? Of course, as his son, I inherit his client…_ " he thought in despair at the predicament he had himself stuck in thanks to his father. " _There's no doubt that if it doesn't turn out as good as I claimed it to be, he'll no doubt have that assassin kill me. Dammit!_ "

\- Two Hours Later -

'And so it was, with the sacrifice of Falco 1, the experimental flying fortress designated "Gandr" was brought down by its own weapon and the famous Chimera Squadron was wiped out by both the Gryphus Squadron and the remnants of the Falco Squadron. This signalled the end of our aerial conflict, in which we secured a narrow victory.'

'Our victory, however, did not erase the annihilation of our important naval fleet, and with it, our hopes of its ability to liberate our capital. In one flash of destruction from Leasath's flying fortress, our naval war potential was diminished. The bad news doesn't not stop there.'

'Sallqa Air Force Base, which was recovered by allied forces during our push to the capital, has been mysteriously purged from existence. The capital, Griswall, is now under the total control of the enemy, rendering Gryphus and Falco Squadron's accomplishments fruitless. Aurelia has suffered substantial and total defeat.

'In the week that followed, Leasath established near total hegemony over the Federal Republic of Aurelia. The victory that Aurelia had hoped for seemed lost in the darkness. It was over. All the remaining forces could do now...was wait for their inevitable destruction.'


	10. Skies of Deception

A/N Falco 1's sacrifice will not be in vain, that's for damn sure folks. And I don't know if I should feel bad for Navarro or not, since he has to deal with a psychopathic assassin. Eh, I'll get over it in about...now. Now that's we've left the terrain of Ace Combat Xi - Skies of Incursion, we can finally dive head first into the events of Ace Combat X - Skies of Deception.

Chapter 9 - Skies of Deception

 _Last Stand_

\- P-1112 Aigaion, International Territory Bravo, Northern Aurelia -

\- March 7th, 2020 0900 hrs -

"It was only because of that flying fortress they used to destroy the Aurelian fleet in the Danern Straits. If the fleet had managed to get to Griswall they would've been able to liberate the capital." said Marcus as he and Talisman walked the flight deck of the Aigaion, the soft breeze blowing through its gaping maw causing their hair to shift in the wind.

"Yeah, I know. I'd like to think that they used information from the Anean Continental War and this ship to construct it, whatever it was called, but to think a single ship like that could wipe out an entire carrier battle group…" started Talisman, pausing to look out over the expansive ocean waters beneath the flying carrier.

"I know what you mean. Not even the Aigaion with its Nimbus Cruise Missiles could wipe out an entire fleet. The only comparable weapon to what Leasath used would be the Yuktobanian Burst Missiles used by the _Scinfaxi_ -class submersible carriers."

"Don't forget about V1."

They turned around and smiled when Nicolai walked over to them, stood next to Talisman and crossed his arms. "Nuclear weapons are a definite possibility."

"I highly doubt that considering there's been no readings of nuclear radiation in the area where the fleet was sunk, and according to eye-witnesses all they saw was a flash of bright light and a deafening shockwave." stated Talisman with a frown to debunk the Yuke's theory.

"I'm just saying, even though we haven't seen a nuke used since the Circum-Pacific War doesn't mean they don't exist anymore. In war, you both know this very well because of _that_ day, there are no rules to follow."

They stood there silently, thinking back to 1995 and that dark day...the day that would go down in infamy.

There have been many disasters that have occurred over the history of modern humanity. The Ulysses Disaster was a big one, and many could make the argument that this event was the worst. This was a natural disaster though, one against not a specific country or group of people, but against humanity as a whole. Sooner or later, people forgot and moved on with their lives, confident that it would never happen again. What happened on June 6th, 1995, however, was burned into everyone's minds. It had been the biggest blow to the world's psyche, and it still remains to this day as the most terrible act of war to ever be committed.

The Seven Pillars of Belka, the nuclear bombs that were detonated by the Belkan military along the Waldreich Mountain Range, truly revealed what humans would do to one another when embroiled in war. Over twenty thousand people, innocent civilians who had nothing to do with the war, were vaporized in an instant and the region was permanently transformed into a barren, white wasteland devoid of life.

This event alone began a worldwide campaign to reduce arms manufacturing and slash military budgets, but unfortunately not many hopped onto the idea.

The results of ignoring this call were horrible. The Usean Continental War, the Circum-Pacific War, the Anean Continental War. All of them each had their own terrors that took place that only furthered the need for global arms reduction.

Still, it did not gain enough strength to stop the war going on now between Aurelia and Leasath.

"People need to stop being so selfish." muttered Talisman sourly to break the ice between them, both Nicolai and Marcus glancing over at him.

"What do you mean?"

"This war, it's just selfish." stated Talisman again, his fists tightening. "The world is being threatened by possibly another Ulysses Disaster and what does Leasath do? They invade their neighbor and start another war."

He growled and walked away, stopping when he was a few feet away from a pile of boxes. Marcus and Nicolai looked on in worry for their friend, who was almost at his limit and seemingly was ready to explode.

"It's taking all of my willpower to restrain myself from getting into my jet, flying to the frontlines myself , and shooting down every single one of those fucks." said Talisman with vicious intent.

"We feel the same way Talisman, but we have a job here to do. We have to protect Stonehenge." said Marcus to try and calm his flight lead down before things got out of hand.

Talisman sighed deeply and closed his eyes, thinking back to when Cipher had criticized him for disobeying a direct order. His muscles relaxed and his posture returned back to normal, his lips curling upwards into a small smile and his thanks silently going to Cipher. After calming himself, he shoved his hands into his pockets and trudged back over to them.

"Yeah...you're right. Besides, we still have to find the third Project ACES survivor."

"Exactly." said Nicolai as he pat Talisman on the shoulder. "And if our hunch is correct, the pilot that we observed *will bring an end to this war. Just like how you and Cipher had to."

\- Aubrey Air Force Base, Cape Aubrey, Aurelia -

\- May 7th, 2020 1011 hrs -

The sun was shining brightly over Cape Aubrey, a perfect day for going outside and enjoying the weather. This was not the case for the beaten and battered Aurelian military. Aubrey Air Force Base, which sat close by to the coastal city, was the last remaining military facility still under Aurelian control.

Ever since the sinking of the majority of Aurelia's naval fleet, the remaining forces of the country's military fled from Leasath's forces, which were seemingly unstoppable since they were spearheaded by the Gandr's successor, the Gleipnir Flying Fortress, which was credited with the purging of Sallqa Air Force Base. It's overwhelming power was in a league of its own, something similar to the P-1112 Aigaion, and it was enough to send Aurelia's forces running.

Now, the remnants of Aurelia's army rests at their last remaining base, which by now had already been attacked three times by the persistent Leasath forces.

All three attempts, thankfully, were thwarted by their last hope, the pilot known infamously among the Leasath forces as "Nemesis".

Fed up with their prior failed attempts at stomping out the Aurelian resistance, Leasath gathered up a large aerial force and sent it on a direct course with Aubrey Air Force Base not to capture it...but to totally wipe it off the face of the Earth.

The briefing room was occupied by the base's only defenders left alive after their comrades were taken down during each attack on the base. They were a motley bunch of pilots that were led by the Gryphus Squadron, the country's only remaining ace squadron with the most experience after the death of Falco 1 and the disbanding of his squadron.

It was dead silent, the mood tense. This was their country's last stronghold. If they were to fall at the hands of the enemy, it was all over.

"Um...Ok, let's begin the briefing. I'm Eugene Solano. I'll be keeping you up to date." started the man standing at the front of the room, an expression of dire seriousness painted on his face.

"We've got news that another invading Leasath Squadron has just taken off from the Puna Plains en route for an attack on our position. They've grown tired of our continuous repelling of their previous attacks and have pulled out all the stops, intending to put the final nail in our collective coffin." stated Eugene as the 3D Holographic briefer detailed each plane and their position on the map for the pilots to study.

"We'll be sending the Gryphus Squadron around the mountains to avoid enemy radar detection and attack them from their flanks, hopefully bringing them down before they reach our secondary squadrons stationed here. If everything goes well, we finally might be able to regain control over the area and restart counterattack operations against Leasath. I'll be operating under the codename "Crux" as your AWACS to keep you up to date, so please pay attention to your radio. Dismissed."

Church let out a deep breath and silently stood up from his chair, the rest of his squadron following him out of the briefing room. In his mind he was already going over attack strategies and counter-measures just in case things didn't turn out so well for them, and after he absentmindedly reached his aircraft he returned back to reality and climbed his way up into the cockpit.

"You ready Church?" asked Rick after they established their radio connection.

"Yeah, I've had enough of these air attacks. It's time Leasath got a taste of their own medicine." he replied as he powered up his Raptor and taxied out onto the runway.

It was kill or be killed now. Either they won, or Leasath did. The fate of the war hung in the balance. No pressure, right?

\- Several Miles out from Cape Aubrey, Aurelia -

\- May 7th, 2020 1100 hrs -

"Crux to Gryphus Squadron. Maintain present course and attack the enemy bomber squadron."

"Roger that AWACS. Let's take care of these bastards." growled Roy as they finally surfaced from behind the mountains and set their sights on the enemy Leasath attack squadron in front of them.

Church locked onto one of the first bombers in the rear of the formation and smirked as he let loose a pair of XLAAs, the missiles flying out from the bottom of his aircraft and only needing a few seconds of airtime to hit the B-52 they were aimed at and reduce it to a ball of fire.

"It's the enemy! They managed to sneak up behind us!" exclaimed a Leasath pilot in shock once they realized the presence of Gryphus Squadron in their rears, but by then it was already too late.

Church and the Gryphus Squadron tore into the unsuspecting Leasath air squadron and shot down their bombers and escort fighters one by one until nothing remained. Once again their hopes of finally destroying the Aurelian military were crushed by the Southern Cross and his squadron.

This time, however...they still had one last trick up their sleeves.

"Didn't even break a sweat on that one. When will they finally realize that no amount of fighters or bombers can take us down?" asked Roy as they formed up for the short return trip back to Cape Aubrey and their home base.

"Don't get cocky yet. This is only just the beginning." reprimanded Church somewhat harshly.

"Aw, don't be a stick in the mud Church. We're just excited is all." said Gryphus 4.

While the Aurelian pilots talked and bickered among themselves, back where they had brought down the enemy squadron threatening their base, a silent object glided slowly through the air whilst emitting a low, reverberating hum. The clouds in the air seemed to bend around its invisible body for a few moments before the invisible cloak was brought down, revealing a similar looking black hull with large, bird-like wings.

A silo door popped open atop its body and a single missile was fired out, the smoke trail it left behind billowing over the sides of the massive aircraft before, like a ghost, it vanished into thin air.

When they were only a few minutes away from Cape Aubrey, Crux noticed something pop up on his long-range radar and he immediately began to track it.

"I've got something on radar! Something's coming in at high-speed…shit, it's a missile!" he said aloud frantically, Church's eyes widening and a deep sense of dread manifesting itself in the pit of his stomach.

"What? Where?! Tell us AWACS!" demanded Rick, Crux quickly following its trajectory back to its origins and identifying it as where they had engaged the enemy Leasath squadron.

"The Puna Plains. It came from the Puna Plains!"

"Could it have the Gleipnir?!"

"It's an SWBM! Get out of there now!" yelled Crux, Church and the other Gryphus pilots quickly flying out in all directions to try and avoid the attack...but it was too late.

The missile detonated a little ways off in a flash of blue light, and a split second later the devastating shockwave that always accompanied it spread out through their ranks and to Church's horror, Rick, Roy and Gryphus 4's aircraft exploded in a ball of fire, their airframes crushed flat by the shockwave.

"Gryphus 2! Come in Gryphus 2! Gryphus 3?! Anyone!" shouted Crux, desperate to confirm their survival, but unfortunately their radio's were rendered inoperable by the shockwave and the only thing they could do was return to base to prove they were alive.

Even when they win, they still lose something. It was just like Falco 1 and the Gandr all over again.

\- The mission was...was a success. The destruction of the enemy bombers will keep an enemy invasion of Aubrey Air Force Base at bay for a little while longer. However, we also suffered serious losses. This...there's no way anyone could ever call this mission a success. I'm sorry, we couldn't do anything to save them.


	11. Out of the Fire

A/N Welp, gotta feel bad for Church on this one. He just keeps on having a bad time, doesn't he. Now, though, this just continues to fuel the fire deep inside him that will drive him onward to victory. And as we continue one through this chapter of our Ace Combat journey, I get to look forward to bringing to you all the finale that I am very, VERY excited to write.

Also, another thing that's been going on and as to why this upload took a little longer then the last couple. I've joined together with the fanfiction author Doran Maya, the creator of the "Legendary Aces" Ace Combat story series, to create our own wiki where we feature stuff from our stories such as characters, weapons and aircraft, to name a few things. It's name is FanficCollective, and currently I have a lot of information on there pertaining to my first three AC stories, Retribution of a Demon, Angels of Peace, and Birth of a Legend. Unfortunately the character info is severely lacking for a lot, if not all, of the characters and I'll try to get the info up there, so these uploads may become a little farther apart from here on.

I _have_ however input all of the information for the Super Weapons, both canon from the games that you can find info on from Acepedia, and fanmade created by yours truly that include pictures also created by yours truly. Thank you Microsoft Paint and the Internet. As a last tidbit of information, everything that is included with my series is under "Wings of Freedom", the new collective title that I'm giving my entire Ace Combat Series. Clicking on it will take you to the hub that connects to all the other stories, the super weapons, and the maps from each time period when I eventually add them.

Well, that's enough ranting for all of us so I'll go ahead and hop off my soapbox for now and let you guys read this next chapter. Peace!

Chapter 10 - Out of the Fire

 _Resisting Defeat_

\- Griswall, Aurelia -

\- May 10th, 2020 0900 hrs -

Griswall, thankfully, was still mostly its lively and bustling self, with its denizens going about their everyday activities and jobs to get through the day, even though for the past month, give or take, they had been under control by the Leasath military. Their troops and tanks patrolled the streets day in and day out, and the newspapers proudly broadcasted how powerful the Gleipnir Flying Fortress was.

"'The power of Leasath's advanced airborne Gleipnir.' Blah blah blah, what a bunch of shit. They were only able to build it off my my designs with the Aigaion." growled Lorenz sourly as he threw down the newspaper from Osea onto the table he sat at, Talisman, Nicolai and Marcus glaring at him.

Talisman waited for a platoon of Leasath soldiers to pass by before he leaned forward and looked him dead square in the eyes. "Are you crazy? What if they heard you?"

"I don't care, they can't do anything to me." he replied with a smug grin. "Besides, even if I do get arrested they'll have Osea's President and the other world leaders breathing down their necks."

Nicolai rolled his eyes as he picked up the newspaper, the Osea Times, and continued to read into it, finding an article with a quote from Leasath's leader.

"Such was the impassioned speech of Leasath's commander-in-chief Diego Gaspar Navarro as images of the Aurelian squadron's destruction over Cape Aubrey played in the background." he read under his breath to himself before he skipped over the other portions and went straight to the bottom where he knew the author's name was printed.

He gasped slightly when he read the name and a smile slowly curled up to replace his aloof expression, the sound of Talisman and Lorenz argueing fading away into the background as the gears in his mind began to turn.

"Aha!" he exclaimed as he threw the newspaper onto the table again, startling Marcus, Talisman and Lorenz with his sudden outburst.

"What is it?" asked Marcus out of curiosity, Nicolai's smirk only growing when he swiveled the newspaper around and pointed out the author's name to them.

"You're kidding, right?" asked Lorenz after reading the name and glancing back up at the Yuke.

"Who is this guy?" asked Talisman, Nicolai leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

"That, my friend, is Albert Gennette."

"Yes, that's his name, but what does he have to do with finding Patient One?"

"Gennette was the news reporter that was on Sand Island with Cipher, Nagase and Grimm before they faked their deaths and became the Razgriz. He was the one that recorded the video of Cipher stating who he was that was shown at the public reveal of the records pertaining to the Circum-Pacific War and the Razgriz Air Command Squadron." explained Lorenz.

"And if he's down here in Aurelia covering the war for the Osea Times, I can bet money on the fact that he'll try to seek out the guy we're looking at." continued Nicolai, Talisman and Marcus slowly piecing together the puzzle pieces.

"If we meet up with Gennette, then we'll be able to get to our guy…"

"And then we'll be able to talk to him about Project ACES! Genius!" said Talisman low enough so that any passerby couldn't overhear him. "So I'm guessing we're going to be going to Cape Aubrey then?"

"That is indeed what we'll be doing." replied Nicolai.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going."

\- Aubrey Air Force Base, Aurelia -

\- May 10th, 2020 0945 hrs -

"Those bastards!"

Gryphus 6 and Gryphus 5 peered in through the barely open doorway and watched nervously as Church stormed from one end of the break room to the other, visibly fuming and near his breaking point. They were afraid to interrupt him, but at the same time they had another operation and they needed to get to briefing.

The two looked at one another and it was silently decided that Gryphus 6 would be the one to tell him. She slowly pushed open the door and creeped inside, gulping. "Um, Church?"

He went rigid and stopped right in his tracks, slowly turning around until he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye. The anger he was exhibiting was clearly broadcasted from the expression on his face, and it sent a chill up her spine.

"Yes…?"

"We have, uh, another mission to do. We need to get to briefing." said Gryphus 6 with a stutter, the veins in Church's neck bulging slightly before he fully turned around and completely purged the anger out of his expression and body.

"Alright, let's go." he said with a slight smile as he went for the door and walked out past Gryphus 5, who watched him go with a baffled look.

" _Good grief, his attitude did a complete 180...he scares me sometimes._ " thought Gryphus 6 with a sigh of relief before she followed Church out with Gryphus 5 in tow.

When they finally reached the briefing room and sat down under the watchful eye of Eugene, he powered up the 3D briefer and cleared his throat.

"The Gleipnir was last confirmed heading southwest across the Puna Plains. However, we lost trace of it shortly after. Unfortunately Aurelia's information network can provide no further details at this time. We'll just have to take what we can get." he stated, Church's eyes narrowing in silent fury.

" _We'll find you eventually, and when we do...you're gonna be in for a world of hurt._ "

"Since the Gleipnir nearly wiped out our entire attack force, even with you, sir, our remaining aerial attack strength is severely limited. We no longer have the manpower or supplies to pursue Gleipnir. In addition, there are reports of enemy forces gathering at Port Patterson. If we don't move soon, it will only be a matter of time before they attack us from behind." explained Eugene as he motioned with his hand to mark out a group of targets in the Puna Plains.

"Given the situation, we are left with only one plan of attack. On the Puna Plains lying between Aubrey Air Force Base and Port Patterson, Leasath forces have hastily constructed a resupply base to house the large quantity of supplies needed to support their troops."

Church leaned forward in his chair and smiled, seeing how there weren't many defensive emplacements built to protect the small base.

" _Their overconfidence is what's gonna kill them._ "

"Attack Puna Base. Destroy all of their parked bombers and base facilities. Take away the enemy's ability to fight. If you succeed we'll gain an important foothold for an attack on Port Patterson, and what's more we'll gain the supplies we need to win this fight. Unless we succeed in taking this base, that's it for our supplies. Please don't fail, sir."

\- Puna Plains, Aurelia -

\- May 10th, 2020 1145 hrs -

Church entered the airspace first and immediately set his sights on a couple of lone AA guns stationed a couple of miles out from the makeshift Leasath base dubbed Puna Base by Eugene. Gryphus 5 and 6 followed closely behind him and without a word spread out into their attack formation, which now had to be modified due to the untimely deaths of their compatriots at the hands of the Gleipnir.

After Church destroyed one of the AA units, Eugene tapped into their radios and informed them of how far away from Puna Base they were at that moment.

"Five more miles to Puna Base. Attack formation, please."

"We're already set Crux. And you don't have to ask nicely, we know what we have to do." replied Church with a slight chuckle, Eugene clearing his throat and quieting down.

"Um, of course, sir."

Unfortunately for them the soldiers stationed at Puna Base weren't ignorant of their defenders being destroyed and soon enough they were discovered. The base's air-raid sirens began to wail and the soldiers stationed there started to go into a frenzy, trying to the get the base's interior defenses up and armed.

"What kind of enemy is it? Air? Land? Dammit, everything's in chaos. What's going on?!" shouted the Base Commander before his own question was answered when Church soared over the base and dropped a GPU right onto one of their parked B-52s.

The high-altitude bomber erupted into a fireball and completely shattered when the bomb struck it, creating a small shock-wave that sent a cloud of dirt flying out in all directions.

"Didn't our last attack finish off all remaining Aurelian air power?"

"Not exactly, bastards." said Church with a smirk as his wingmen began their own individual attacks on the nigh-defenseless base, taking out their AA and SAM units with ease whilst he eliminated their bombers.

"It's him! It's Nemesis!" yelled a soldier once he recognized the emblem on Church's Raptor, the others around him instantly becoming terrified.

Church dove to the right to avoid a swarm of bullets fired up at him from one of the AA units next to the Command Building and he narrowed his eyes, his hand on the flight stick instinctively maneuvering it towards the enemy and his finger pressing the button once for a single missile.

" _Gotcha._ " he thought evilly after the AA unit exploded, his hunger taking him elsewhere afterwards.

In an effort to get help for his struggling forces at the resupply base, the Leasath Base Commander quickly contacted his superiors back in Port Patterson farther south and quickly relayed the situation to them.

"This is Puna Base! We have an emergency! Come in!"

"This is Port Patterson Command. What's the situation up there?"

"We're under attack by enemy air forces. Requesting reinforcements immediately!" replied the Base Commander quickly, the officer at the other end sending out the order to scramble some fighters.

"It'll take some time. Hold on until reinforcements arrive."

"Hurry up! If they don't get here soon, there'll be nothing left of this base but a pile of rubble!"

Before the Base Commander could even hang up the phone, Church dropped a pair of GPUs right into the center of the Commander Building and blew it wide open, creating a massive cavity in their explosive wake and permanently silencing any communications going either in or out of the concrete structure.

It only took a mere seven minutes for the three Aurelian fighters to completely overturn the base and destroy every single one of the bombers, completely decimating the enemy forces there before their reinforcements from Port Patterson could even arrive to help.

"Leasath soldiers are abandoning the base. The mission was a success!" informed Eugene as Church and company made a final pass over Puna Base, the surviving enemy troops down below quickly getting into any vehicle that still worked and driving out of their at top speed.

"Of course it did. With Church around, Leasath can't do anything to stop us." replied Gryphus 5.

"Don't get cocky, remember? We got lucky with this base only having a skeleton crew to defend it. Next time they'll be prepared." berated Church somewhat harshly.

He let his words sink in for a few seconds before he chuckled and leaned back in his flight seat, "But still, good job you two. Let's head home.

-Retreating Leasath forces have abandoned Puna Base. The base, including all provisions stored there, now belong to us. Now we'll be able to provide backup support for our troops.

\- Aubrey Air Force Base, Aurelia -

\- May 10th, 2020 1238 hrs -

Church, Gryphus 5 and Gryphus 6 each completed their landing at their home base and guided their aircraft down the runway towards the hangars, their spirits high after accomplishing the mission. Church powered off his Raptor and hopped out, leaving it in the hands of the base mechanics as he tucked his helmet under his arm and started to walk towards the main building.

He was stopped however when Eugene suddenly appeared from his right and held out a hand to get his attention. "What is it Eugene?"

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner, but there's a group of men wanting to talk with you in the briefing room." he said, Church raising an eyebrow in intrigue.

"Really? Who?"

"They asked me not to tell you before hand, sir. They arrived here with a journalist from Osea while we were away after landing at the civilian airport in the city. They only want to see you." said Eugene, Church's interest growing exponentially.

" _I wonder who they might be?_ " he thought to himself as he made his way over to the main building and walked inside, following the route he's taken so many times before to get to the briefing room.

He heard some voices inside beyond the wooden door and he took a deep breath before knocking on the door. The voices grew silent after the three consecutive raps on the door, Church waiting there awkwardly to wait for one of them to speak up.

"Come in."

Church grasped the doorknob and pushed the door inward, stepping inside and seeing that there were four people standing at the other end of the room just in front of the deactivated briefing system. One was dressed in casual clothes, a grey T-shirt and khakis, and the other three wore military uniforms he didn't recognize.

The man he guessed was the one in charge smiled at him as he walked over and held out his hand. "Gryphus 1, I presume?"

"Yeah, but you can call me Church." he replied as he shook his hand, the man nodding a few times as he stepped back and motioned to one of the chairs.

"Of course. If you could please sit down, we've got something to discuss."

Church pulled up one of the metal chairs and sat down gingerly, the other four men taking their own seats whilst maintaining perfect eye contact with him. It was somewhat unnerving, and he made this known with the expression on his face.

"Sorry, but who are you guys?" he asked, the man sitting closest to him chuckling as he leaned back and rested his hands in his laps.

"Sorry, where are my manners? Allow my colleagues and I to introduce ourselves." he looked back at the man dressed in the tan military uniform and he straightened up whilst clearing his throat.

"My name is Nicolai Reznov, former flight lead of the Yuktobanian Kvant Squadron and currently a member of the Ustio Air Force 6th Air Division, 66th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Galm"." he stated with pride and authority, Church's eyes shooting wide open when he recognized the last squadron name.

It didn't stop there when the man with slicked back hair dressed in casual clothes grinned and said, "The name's Lorenz Riedel, former member of the Belkan Air Force 18th Air Division, 5th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Gault". Fun fact, I was the one that helped created Estovakia's Heavy Command Cruisers."

The next person to speak was the man who wore the same uniform as the first speaker who shook his hand.

"I'm Marcus Lampert, the number two of the Republic of Emmeria Air Force 8th Air Divison, 28th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Garuda". It's a pleasure to meet you."

Church's mouth was totally agape, the total shock at meeting some of the greatest aces to ever fly the sky in person completely overwhelming. He looked at the first man, who was smiling at him, and raised an eyebrow to wait for him.

"Well, I guess it's my turn, and I'm not gonna waste time with the formalities. I'm Ethan Costner, callsign Talisman, the flight lead of the Garuda Squadron and the current Ace of Aces." he stated.

He waited a few moments for Church to regain his bearings, and once the Aurelian blinked a few times and closed his mouth, he leaned forward and asked, "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. It's an honor to meet all of you. I never would've expected I would get to meet all of you."

"Of course. You're not so bad yourself at flying that Raptor of yours." replied Nicolai with a nod, Church looking over at him in surprise.

"You've been watching me?"

"Yes." said Talisman to draw his attention back to him. "It's my job as the Ace of Aces to observe potential pilots that could someday claim the title."

"You think I could become the Ace of Aces?"

"Ethan…" said Lorenz with a glare at the Emmerian, Talisman cheekily grinning back at him before he cleared his throat.

"It's a definite possibility, but...we didn't come here to talk to you about that." he said as he leaned back in his chair and fidgeted with his fingers, Church becoming confused as to what he meant.

"You see...well, how do I put this…"

"There's a reason as to why Talisman here is so good as a fighter pilot, one that's not so well-known among the general populace." spoke Marcus to get his train of thought moving, Talisman slowly nodding his head in agreement.

"What do you mean?" asked Church.

"I'm not gonna waste time in leading you into this, so I'm going to be brutally honest with you." started Talisman as he closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly, taking in a deep breath for what he said next.

"I was born in Belka and I have no memory whatsoever of what my name was or even who my parents were. Ethan isn't even my real name. I was taken by Belkan officials to the Avalon Dam Complex along with ten other children before hand and entered into a secret project known only as Project ACES. The children there were each designated as a Patient, from Zero to Eleven, with myself being the eleventh." he said, Church's expression slowly morphing from interest to something more morbid, his eyes widening.

"We were each injected with an experimental chemical that boosted our vitality and basically transformed us into super-soldiers. A day after, all but three survived. Myself, Patient Zero, and Patient One. You actually have already heard of Patient Zero, my "brother". I'll give you a hint...he was the Ace of Aces before me."

Church's jaw dropped open once again when he realized just who he was referring to. He was possibly the greatest pilot who ever lived, having participated across three wars under three aliases.

"You can't be serious."

"I am. Cipher and I, we're the same. Believe me, I was just like you right now back when he told me during the Anean Continental War. It was, however, true. He was able to escape from Project ACES however and grew up into the fearsome fighter pilot history would remember him as, while myself and Patient One had our minds wiped of everything to do with Project ACEs and sent to different parts of the world.

"And since you ended up in Emmeria, where did One go to?" asked Church hesitantly, afraid of discovering the truth.

"Well, at first we didn't know. There's a lot of places that he could've been sent to, and it's impossible to know just who he was. However, we could rely on the one fact that we knew for sure would happen." said Nicolai to continue where Talisman left off.

"If another war broke out, he would be the one pilot that stood out above all the rest. An ace among aces, so to speak, since he technically shares the same blood with Cipher and Talisman here. And luckily for us, another way did spark. The one currently going on right now between Leasath and Aurelia." said Lorenz, Church slowly beginning to put the pieces together the more information he got from the four pilots.

"And so we came here with the force sent to guard the Stonehenge unit in northern Aurelia and began to observe both sides, trying to discern our guy among everyone else. And fortunately for us...we found him." said Marcus with a stern look on his face while he stared directly at Church.

He started to sweat and he blinked a few times when a dark reality began to develop in the back of his mind. He didn't believe it at first, but the more he thought about it the more he began to think that it was actually _true_.

"No...no way that's impossible." he said as he grasped his head with his hands and shut his eyes tightly.

"Church." said Talisman to regain the pilot's attention, but he was surprised when he got up out of the chair and started heading towards the door.

"No, I-I...I need to think about this." he said before he flung open the door and slipped outside before any of them could say anything to stop him.

Talisman sighed deeply and rubbed his temples, thinking to himself, " _Dammit...I didn't think he would be like this._ "

He sat there in the briefing room with the others quietly, mulling over what had just occurred and what course of action they should take next in order to make Church believe the truth.

"Now what?" asked Marcus, Nicolai getting up and beginning to pace back and forth whilst deep in though.

"We have to let him think this out, considering the information we just told him. But I think part of him still doesn't believe that its real, that it's all a lie."

"Then how do we make him believe?" asked Lorenz, Talisman opening his eyes and smirking as he reached into his pants pocket and retrieved his phone.

"If he won't listen to us, maybe he'll listen to someone with a little more experience. The person who was there from the start."


	12. Prelude

A/N The cat's outta the bag, if you hadn't noticed. The third brother, so to speak, has finally be found, and who woulda thought that it was Church…*cough cough obvious plot point because he's the main character *cough. Leave a fav and review

Chapter 11 - Prelude

 _Liberating Front_

Church shut the door to his room and locked it, turning around to look out through the one window it had at the tarmac. His mind was still swimming with all of the new information he had just heard, and it was starting to give him a piercing headache.

" _Me…? I...No...it's not true…_ " he thought as he stood rigid and stared down blankly at the floor.

His mind was in total disarray. He had just learned that his whole life here in Cape Aubrey had actually been a lie. He wasn't born here, he wasn't even a true Aurelian. He had been born a Belkan, and at some point when he was very young he had been taken away from his parents and had his entire past wiped away from his mind, even his name and their identity.

His entire life had not been his own.

Just the thought of it had reduced him to a shell of his former self. His parents, whom he had never known, had no idea where their son had gone or what had become of him. He didn't even know if he had *actual brothers or sisters. He could've had a normal life, he could've something else, he could've been *anyone else.

But no...his life had been predestined from the start when he had been taken from his, no, he wouldn't say it. He wasn't going to believe it. There was no way in hell he would believe it.

He covered his face with his hands and closed his eyes to try to stop the room from spinning so fast and to stop the raging headache that made him want to pass out.

" _God...why me…?_ "

The next day came in the blink of an eye, and Church hadn't even bothered going to sleep. He had sat on his bed in the same position since first walking into his room the day before. As the sun rose into the sky, a few minutes passed of utter silence before a few soft knocks on the door echoed out, his body becoming rigid. "Church, you alright in there?"

He didn't respond. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. He needed more time to himself.

"Church?" asked Gryphus 6 again out of worry, but after another few moments of silence, she gave up and stepped away from the door.

"Leave him be." She turned around, Talisman walking up to her with his hands in his pockets. "He's gonna need a while to get through this."

"Who are you, his psychologist?" she asked, Talisman chuckling as he pressed his shoulder up against the side of the hallway.

"Not exactly, the name's Talisman. I'm kinda a big deal."

"Talisman? As in the Ace of Aces from Emmeria?!" she stammered, the Emmerian pilot nodding his head.

"Yeah, just don't go blatantly yelling it out. I'd prefer if I don't draw too much attention to myself. And about Church, like I said, he's just gonna need some time to digest some things."

"But we have a mission to do. What are we gonna do without our flight lead?" she asked, Talisman pondering about the situation.

He grinned as he turned around and headed back down the way he came towards the slightly ajar door at the end of the hallway, Gryphus 6 watching in confusement before she followed after him.

"How about I lead the Gryphus Squadron for you guys?" he asked.

"What? But you're an Emmerian pilot! If Leasath catches wind of an Emmerian leading an Aurelian fighter squadron during a war against them, they'll declare war on you too!" she exclaimed, Talisman's smile growing into a mischievous smile as he motioned with his thumb over towards Church's F-22A sitting idle in one of the hangars once they had left the barracks.

"They won't, because I'll be flying in his aircraft." he said, Gryphus 6 blinking a few times.

"But…"

"Listen, I got a guy, a good friend of mine, that's going to be coming down here in a short while. He's gonna set Church straight and bring him back to his old self, I can assure you. I'll just take his spot for the time being, okay?"

Gryphus 6 looked back over her shoulder at the barracks, her heart telling her one thing while her mind said another, and after a couple of seconds she sighed in defeat and nod her head once. "Fine. But if you're gonna be flying as Church, then you're gonna have to use his callsign and respond to his name just as if you were him, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am." said Talisman with a small salute and a goofy grin, Gryphus 6 scowling at his somewhat childish personality.

" _For the Ace of Aces, this guy seems more like a rookie than one of the greatest aces to ever fly the skies._ "

With their plan set, the two travelled to the briefing room and met up with Gryphus 5, whom they told of what Talisman was going to do. Eugene entered the room and after recovering from the initial shock of seeing Talisman in his flight suit sitting in the chair Church would normally be at, he cleared his throat and turned on the briefing system.

"The battle to retake Port Patterson is about to begin. Our scattered forces have come together for this battle. They may be few in number, but we've managed to assemble a ground force, which is a success in its own." he began, the briefing system projecting a pixilated version of Port Patterson and the surrounding landscape in the airspace.

Gryphus 5 and 6 made a quick glance at Talisman and just from his facial expression alone they could tell his mind was racing at over a hundred miles per hour, taking in the images and layout of the enemy forces and already making battle plans and back-up contingency plans in case the main one failed. Church was a good pilot, but this man, no, this _Ace_...he was in a completely different league compared to him.

"However, the Leasath fleet continues to gather in Port Patterson, and the presence of the transportation corps has also been confirmed. Having lost Puna Base, it appears Leasath now intends to shuttle in troops and supplies over sea. If any more ships dock at the port, enemy strength will become more then our ground troops can handle."

" _Not if I have anything to say about that._ " thought Talisman with an evil grin.

"In order to prevent this we need you to launch a preliminary strike on Port Patterson. Destroy all enemy supply vessels, landing ships, and freighters. In particular, try to keep as many enemy landing ships from entering the port as possible. Battle supplies must not reach the enemy. Also be wary of a substantial enemy counterattack. It seems the loss of Puna Base has put them on guard. Be careful."

With that, Talisman quickly got up from his seat and left the briefing room with a few strides, Gryphus 5 and 6 having to jog to catch up to him.

"I know I may not be Church, and I know he may have a different style of ordering his wingmen, but I hope we'll be able to effectively be able to act as an air squadron." said Talisman over his shoulder before he quickly moved away towards Church's jet, Nicolai and Marcus standing right beside it.

"Try not to stand out too much, okay?" said Nicolai with a smug grin as Talisman set his foot on the first rung of the ladder leading up to the cockpit, a nasal snort being his response.

"Yeah yeah, I got you. When is he gonna get here?"

"He'll be here by the end of the day. He's taking a taxi." said Marcus.

"A taxi?" asked Talisman in slight confusion. "Please explain."

"You'll find out later. Right now, you need to get to a mission _Gryphus_ 1." said Nicolai, Talisman rolling his eyes before he climbed up and plopped down into the Raptor's cockpit.

The canopy closed with a hiss and he powered on the engines, Nicolai and Marcus stepping back so he could maneuver the aircraft out of the hangar and move out towards the runway.

When the other Gryphus members pulled out behind him, he shot off down the runway and took to the skies, turning into a slow wide turn so as to wait for them to take off. Once the squadron had finally rejoined Talisman took the lead and set his course for Port Patterson to the south, his mind set on totally obliterating everything in his way.

\- Port Patterson, Aurelia -

\- May 11th, 2020 1200 hrs -

When noon finally came around, Talisman and the two members of Gryphus squadron acting under his command since Church was out of commision entered into the airspace and spotted the city in the distance.

"Crux to Gryphus...1." said Eugene awkwardly, still concerned over the fact that Talisman was pretending to be Church and that if anyone found out he was Emmerian, a whole can of worms would erupt that could make the war take a turn for the worse.

"Be sure to destroy any landing craft that attempts to enter the port."

"Roger that AWACS, you can count on me. You guys ready to party?" asked Talisman with a glance back at Gryphus 5 and 6.

"Yeah. Let's go take our port back."

"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Talisman happily as he did a barrel roll.

When they got closer to the port their presence was detected by their allied ground forces stationed around the city's outskirts, and judging by the tone of the commanding officer in charge of them they had been waiting for them to appear.

"So you're Gryphus 1, huh? I'm Major Bergman, ground force commander. Once you begin your attack on the enemy fleet we'll push into the city."

"Roger that Major, we'll take care of those landing ships for you." replied Talisman casually, his eyes darting to a small squadron of CH-47s flying over the city.

Without warning he split off from Gryphus 5 and 6 and shot down the helicopters so quickly they didn't even have any idea as to who had attacked them. Gryphus 5 and 6 attempted to catch up to him, the the Emmerian ace was already gone, heading towards the port itself with the Raptor's GPUs already locked in and ready to be dropped. They had heard about his skills from the news back when the Anean Continental War was raging between Emmeria and Estovakia, but now they had a front row seat to watch the Ace of Aces in action.

To say the least...it was awe inspiring.

"Enemy air forces detected on radar! They're going after the ships! Don't let them get sunk!"

" _Too late for that._ " thought Talisman with a smirk as he locked on to a docked cruiser and dropped two GPUs, one smashing through one of its turrets and igniting its ammunition rack and another striking the bridge.

The entire ship went up in flames and blew back the Leasath troops standing near the dock with a devastating shockwave produced by the detonation, the plume of smoke that rose up afterwards marking the beginning of the attack on Port Patterson.

Talisman moved on to the next group of targets, a contingent of AA gun units, and easily dispatched them with some well placed missiles and streaks of gunfire. "Gryphus 5 and 6, split off and take out any enemy forces on the other side of the port. I'll handle this side and prevent any landing ships from docking."

"Roger Gryphus 1." replied Gryphus 5 as he banked right with Gryphus 6, away from Talisman and the main Leasath fleet.

"Our ships are just sitting ducks out there in the docks!" shouted a Leasath officer who had witnessed the destruction of the docile cruiser, but the troops were helpless to prevent their other naval vessels from getting struck by Talisman.

The Emmerian Ace of Aces was too quick for the Leasath forces to react, and one by one in quick succession their naval fleet stationed in the port was drastically crippled. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted the main fleet still sitting outside the port begin to move in with their landing ships in an attempt regain control of the port, because while he had been busy with the ships their ground forces had begun to push back Leasath's troops out of the city.

"Not on my watch!" he growled as he turned back and targeted the lead transport ships attempting to make it into the port.

He let loose a pair of missiles, one striking the bridge and another hitting it in the hull, and almost immediately the ship began to list to one side as water rushed in through the hull breach on its side. The other landing ships behind it started to make wide turns to attempt to get around their sinking group leader, but Talisman had already reloaded by than and a few seconds later the three ships were in flames.

"Who keeps sinking our ships?! It can't be just because of one fighter jet that we can't even set foot in the port!" growled the Leasath captain in charge of the fleet detachment.

"But it is sir! There's a lone Aurelian Raptor that's preventing our landing craft from unloading reinforcements!"

"A lone Raptor? It can't be...Nemesis?!" he sputtered, Talisman cocking up an eyebrow in confusion before he realized that the nickname bust belong to Church.

" _Nemesis, eh? Not bad Church, not bad._ " he thought with a grin as he dove back down at the fleet, a swarm of AA rounds flying up to meet him.

"It's the Southern Cross! How the hell are we supposed to win against him?!"

"All fighters in the air, shoot down that damned pilot!"

Talisman's missile warning sirens began to blare in his ears and he looked back to see several Leasath SU-35s beginning to get on his tail and shoot him down. They were brave, he would give them that, but he could easily read them like a book and as soon as they got close, he turned the tables on the enemy pilots. He pulled the F-22A's nose up and stalled the engines slightly, his entire world flipping upside down and giving him and perfect view of the five planes behind him.

He pushed the thrust all the way forward and zoomed right at them, letting loose missiles as he did. The pilots that managed to dodge the attack sped past him while the ones who took a missile right to the face exploded and dropped out of the sky trailing smoke and fire.

"Come 'ere!" said Talisman as he gave chase after the surviving pilots, shooting them down one by one until the skies were clear of any enemy presence.

"What's the status over there guys?" he asked of his wingmen, Gryphus 6 being the one to respond after she had destroyed a group of SAM systems.

"We're just cleaning house over here. Seeing as how you've pretty much terrified the forces stationed here, I highly doubt they'll try to invade with you around."

Talisman nodded and he returned back to the airspace directly over the port, and just like how she had predicted, once his presence was identified on radar the Leasath fleet pulled back away from the port and allowed the Aurelian's to retake it, the remaining Leasath ground forces still in the city surrendering when they realized they couldn't win with the odds stacked against them.

"Port Patterson has been retaken. Mission accomplished, return to base." said Eugene in satisfaction, Talisman letting out a sigh as he leaned back in his flight seat.

"So guys, how did I do? Did I get the part?" he asked jokingly after he joined up with Gryphus 5 and 6.

"Well, the voice acting could've been a bit better…" stated Gryphus 5 while stifling his own laughter, Talisman rolling his eyes.

"Oh shut up. Let's get outta here." he said, the two Aurelians sharing a laugh as they set course back to Cape Aubrey.

-We've succeeded in destroying the enemy fleet gathered in Port Patterson. Thanks to the chaos you created, our ground troops scored a major victory by retaking the port and securing it, returning it back to Aurelian control. We couldn't have done it without your assistance, sir.

\- Aubrey Air Force Base -

\- May 11th, 2020 1820 hrs -

Talisman was in the middle of telling some of his war stories back from the Anean Continental War to the base crew, Marcus and Nicolai sitting close by with smiles on their faces. Currently he was on the part where he and the rest of his friends back in Emmeria had to defend the P-1112 Aigaion, which had decided to defect from the Estovakian military when all of sudden the roar of jet engines passed by overhead.

The base personnel payed no attention to it at first before Talisman smirked and looked up to the sky, catching a glimpse of blue and grey for a fraction of a second.

"Heh, he's finally here." he said as he pushed himself up and straightened his uniform.

"Who, sir?" asked one of the mechanics, Talisman glancing back and winking.

"You'll find out here in a quick second." he replied before leaving the hangar with Nicolai and Marcus and walking out onto the runway.

He looked out at the glittering ocean and he grinned when he saw an easily recognizable shape sitting just outside the city.

"Now I know what you meant by "taxi", Marcus." he said over his shoulder, said "taxi" he was talking about being the pride of the Osean Maritime Defense Force and the flagship of the Combined 3rd Fleet, the O.F.S Kestrel II.

The original Kestrel had been a _Nimitz_ -class aircraft carrier built by the Osean Federation that made its trial run in the Belkan War, during Offensive Campaign No. 4101 where the vessel had led an Allied fleet through the Futuro Canal. It's name however was truly cemented in history when it became the home of the Razgriz Air Command Squadron and acted as the temporary home for the President of Osea after he was rescued.

It's life came to an end however when it was sunk by several submarine launched cruise missiles after the vessel and its battle group consisting of both Osean and friendly Yuktobanian had fought against hostile fleets from both nations. To honor the vessel, the next class of carrier that would be built by Osea would be named the _Kestrel_ -class, and that the first ship of its class would be given the name "Kestrel II".

"Of course he would come here on the Kestrel II." said Nicolai with a smirk before the jet Talisman had seen made another pass over the base, this time allowing the ground crew to get a better look at it.

Just from the paint job alone they instantly knew who was piloting the aircraft.

"No way!" one shouted in disbelief when the aircraft made a wide turn and slowed its airspeed down, its landing gear getting lowered down as the pilot committed it to landing at the base.

Everyone beside Talisman, Marcus and Nicolai watched in utter shock as the F-15C with blue wing markings on its wings, vertical and horizontal stabilizers came to a stop on the runway, the series of lights built into the frame where the cockpit should've been flickering off. Two hatches opened up on top and a man popped out of the armored cockpit, a smile plastered on his face as he hopped down onto the tarmac.

He had left his flight helmet in the cockpit and ran a hair through his hair,glancing around at all the surprised faces staring at him and chuckling. He walked over to Talisman and company and shook hands with him, saying "I didn't know there would be a welcoming party."

"Heh, yeah, I know. How's it been Cipher?" asked Talisman with a grin, the former Ace of Aces sighing as he looked back towards the Kestrel II.

"Fine, fine. Jasper's doing great, said he's going to become a pilot like me."

"Did he come with you?" asked Nicolai, Cipher nodding.

"He's back on the Kestrel II playing football with some of the other naval pilots. They're a good bunch, so I know they'd take care of him. Especially since he's the son of the world's most famous fighter pilot."

He looked away from the carrier and examined the air base, going from one building to the other before his smile faded away and he returned to Talisman. "Where is he?"

"He's in the barracks that direction." said Marcus, pointing a finger over Cipher's shoulder towards a group of buildings on the other side of the runway.

"Right." replied Cipher as he briskly turned around and tucked his hands in his pockets. "Give me a couple of minutes."

The barracks had been totally silent for the entire day, not a soul wanting to walk down the hallway that connected to the room belonging to Church. He himself had been locked in there since yesterday, his eyes baggy and deprived of sleep while his body was saggy and lacked life in it.

All of a sudden a series of knocks resonated out from his door, and he opened his tired eyes. He remained silent and hoped that whoever was on the other side of the door would go away.

"Church, I know you're in there. I'm not leaving until you walk out of there with me." said a voice belonging to the person just outside, Church moaning in despair.

"Go away…" he muttered just loud enough for the person to hear him.

"Yeah, uh, no. Talisman told me what he talked to you about." said the voice again, Church's eyes fully opening and his heart skipping a beat.

"*Not this again." he thought as he buried his face in his hands.

"Just get out of here, okay? I don't care who you are, and I'm not gonna listen to more of that bullshit!" he yelled out, the voice from the other side growing quite for a few seconds and making him think that it had given up.

"Not even if I was the Demon Lord?" asked the voice, Church stiffening up and raising his head out of his hands in shock.

He looked back at the door and blinked, unsure if what he had heard was real or not. "E-Excuse me?"

"Or should I go by Mobius 1? Maybe Razgriz 1?" asked the voice somewhat playfully, Church immediately standing up and striding over to his door to unlock it.

He flung it open and stood face to face with a man seemingly his age with short, shaggy brown hair and differently colored eyes, one red and another green. He was wearing a dark grey flight suit with a patch of the Republic of Ustio on one shoulder and a red number, 032, directly underneath it.

"Hiya. So you're Church, right?" asked the man, Church blinking and rubbing his eyes to make sure it wasn't an illusion.

"And you…"

"Yeah, I'm the former Ace of Aces. The name's Aleksandar Costner, but you can call me Cipher or Alek, either one works." replied Cipher with a grin, Church still in disbelief. "Could I come in?"

Church shook himself out of his stupor and he stepped out of the way, allowing Cipher to walk into the room and take a seat on the couch sitting across from the bed.

Church closed the door behind him and sat back down on his bed again, looking at Cipher in silence as he made himself at home on the couch by leaning back and letting out a sigh of relief.

"Heh, it feels just like yesterday when I was sitting in a room just like this at Sand Island, listening to Puddle of Mudd with one of my old wingmen…" he said aloud, Church remaining silent in the presence of the legend.

Cipher noticed the awkward silence and he closed his eyes, whistling a few notes from a song he had heard recently. "So I hear you had quite a shock the day before, huh?"

Church was taken aback by the question, Cipher opening one eye and looking at him with a slight smile on his face. He nod his head, and Cipher closed the eye again, another few whistled tunes emerging from his lips.

"Yeah, I know what you're feeling right now. Talisman experienced the same thing when I first told him back in 2016. I'm sure he told you that too, right?" asked Cipher, not even having to look to know that Church nod his head up and down.

"Well...where to begin…" Cipher leaned forward and let out a deep sigh as he rested his elbows on his knees, thinking about what to say next to the Aurelian pilot.

"What he says is true." he said, getting to the truth right off the bat. "Your name is Leonard Costner, and you were once a test subject of the now defunct Project ACES."

Church remained silent, and Cipher took it as a chance to continue.

"It's also true that you were brainwashed and had all of your memories of Project ACES wiped away before they sent you and Talisman, excuse me, _Ethan_ , to Aurelia and Emmeria, respectfully. I however was able to escape, which is why I'm still able to remember everything that had transpired. From when I was first brought the the Avalon Dam Facility to when I escaped and became a mercenary pilot."

"B-But...I can't believe that...I don't want to believe it…" muttered Church, and as soon as he lowered his gaze Cipher was off the couch with his hands firmly grasping the cuff of his shirt and his eyes glaring right into his own, a fiery look in them.

"You listen to me, and you listen to me good. *Got it?" he asked, Church quickly nodding his head before Cipher let go of him and crossed his arms, a scowl on his face.

"Enough of this pussy-footing around bullshit, trying to deny the truth when you already know deep down that it's true. Do you know how long I searched for you and Talisman? Go ahead and guess." said Cipher harshly, Church racking his brain for an estimate to try and answer his question to no avail.

Cipher took his silence as his answer and he uncrossed his arms, his hands clenching together tightly. "Just to find Talisman alone, it took me _twenty one_ years. And for him it took another four to find you here."

Church was astonished at the number, but Cipher didn't stop there and pressed forward.

"I've spent nearly half of my adult life trying to find the only family I had left, considering, if you don't remember, _I_ was the very first person kidnapped to be apart of Project ACES and I have no memories of my parents or past life whatsoever." he continued, his tone alone making Church feel like the smallest person in the world.

"You think you have it bad because you're just finding out now? Ha! Try living with the fact that you _know_ that you had your memories wiped, and that no matter how hard you tried, you were never able to discover the identity of your family and that they, right now, have no idea that their son is in fact not dead or missing, but is in fact alive and is trying his very best to find his way back home?!"

At this point Cipher was right in Church's face, their eyes just inches apart from one another. He was left utterly speechless, unable to comprehend how much pain and suffering the pain standing across from him had felt during the course of his lifetime.

"So with that in mind, like I said, I desired to find the only family I had left, the two brothers that were with me in Project ACES. I was able to find one, and never before had I felt happier. Now when he finds the third person who struggled just like we had, and he has the guts to deny the truth…" started Cipher before he saw the fear in Church's eyes and calmed down, his hands unclenching and his body rocking backward as he fell back onto the couch.

"Listen...what you're doing to yourself right now is not a good thing. You have two wingmen, no, and _entire_ nation depending on you to stop the bad guys and free their country from their control. Sitting in your room and wallowing over your past is not the way to do it." he said after taking in a deep breath and letting it out.

Church lowered his gaze and held his hands in his laps, taking what Cipher just said and thinking about it over and over in his head. He was right, there were people who were depending on him right now, and who was he to deny them and sit here in his room in a wreck?

"Believe me when I say I've been where you're at right now. I still hold onto the hope that someday I would be able to find my parents someday, but at the same time I know that this might never happen. So, instead of worrying over it, I decided to move on and create a new life for myself, and look at what that's gotten me today...I'm reknown as the best god damned fighter pilot ace in history." said Cipher with a chuckle, one of his hands unconsciously moving down to his pockets to bring out a picture he always carried with him, a picture of Jasper.

"Hell...I even got married and had a son whom I love more than anything in the world. What I'm trying to say is don't let this bring you down. Let this circumstance instead push you to go to new heights and become someone who _can_ be, not someone who _could_ have. Become the badass fighter pilot who's gonna put a stop to this war and save his country just like his two other brothers." said Cipher with a grin, Church laughing as he looked up at him and opened his eyes.

Without a word he stood up, Cipher doing the same, and shook hands with one another, Church's lips curling up into a warm smile.

"It's good to have you back Leonard."

"Please, just call me Church, Alek."

And with that, they left Church's room and walked back out of the barracks and onto the runway, Talisman spotting them first as they walked over.

"Hell yeah, he did it." he said, Nicolai and Marcus glancing over while Gryphus 5 and 6 stood up at the sight of their flight lead returning to them.

"Hey guys, sorry I kinda blacked out there for a while. I'm back for good though." said Church as he walked up to his wingmen to reassure them. He glanced over his shoulder at Talisman and Cipher, who stood a few feet away with Nicolai and Marcus right behind them.

"Thanks for showing me who I really am." he said, the two brothers saluting him before they walked off with their friends to return to their jets and leave the Aurelians to catch up about the day's prior events.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice Alek, I really appreciate it." said Talisman as he clapped Cipher on the shoulder.

"No problem. I was also able to get a glimpse of the unknown jets you and Marcus quarreled with." replied Cipher, Talisman's smile fading and getting replaced with a slight scowl. "You do know who they could've belonged to, right?"

"Of course I do."

"So you know that at some point we're gonna have to fight *them again, right?"

"Yeah, I know that too. The only question though is when they choose to show themselves to the world."

Cipher nod his head a few times and sighed. "Mhmm...and I have a feeling that with the threat of Odysseus overhead...that time is gonna be soon. And when that time comes, we'll have to be ready."


	13. Last Line of Defense

A/N Sorry guys for the long time between chapters, got caught up with real life and such. Also I've been writing down the final chapters for part 2 of the finale story for this series, Ace Combat - Oblivion, and let's just say they are going to be badass, with all of them currently over 6k words long. I also just finished drawing the main antagonist for that second part and i can't wait to upload him to the wiki for all to view once the story is finished. Just a reminder the name of the wiki is FanFicCollective. Leave a fav and review.

Chapter 12 - Last Line of Defense

 _Counter-Force_

May 11th.

It was on that day that the aircraft bearing the mark of the Southern Hemisphere brought about the defeat of Leasath forces. But the story barely made the news, and the Army showed no apparent reaction.

Almost nightly, Leasath's commander-in-chief, Diego Gaspar Navarro plays host to grand banquets within Gaiuss Tower. This evening, he is once again proudly trumpeting the glory of his airborne fortress. The speeches were all the same. He was arrogantly confident in the abilities of the Gleipnir and that the pilot known as "Nemesis" would be taken care of with extreme prejudice.

Little did he know that the "pest" he liked to call him was something else entirely when compared to an ordinary fighter pilot. He was so much more.

And even then the dictator wasn't even focusing on the *real issues, such as the state of his country. The civil war had left Leasath an impoverished nation, its lower class just barely scraping by. The case about the flow of money within Leasath was unclear, and when someone began to get too curious for their own good, they simply...disappeared.

"Thank you all for coming!" announced Navarro as he bid farewell to his latest guests in Gaiuss Tower.

The banquet had finally drew to a close and the people invited were filing out through the sets of double doors at the front of the large, chandelier filled room. He used a handkerchief to wipe away some sweat from his brow and pocketed it, sighing in relief and thinking about what he would do for the next time.

"Yet another extravagant party Navarro?"

The general's face lost all of its color and he felt an overwhelming sense of dread course through his body, the temperature of the air dropping several degrees while it felt like all the happiness he had just experienced was just sucked away.

"Ah, Jack...it's good to see you again." Navarro said as he hid his terror and turned to face the assassin. "What brings you here?"

Jack was leaning up against one of the tables with the same sneer on his face, his one visible red eye piercing through Navarro's facade and seeing the fear inside him.

"Relax, Navarro. I'm not here to _kill_ you or anything. It's not like I *want to rip out your small intestine and hang you from the ceiling by it." replied Jack with a deranged giggle, Navarro gulping as more sweat materialized on his skin.

"Yes, I wouldn't do that, because you're helping us." continued Jack as he walked over to the general and slung an arm around him, his face coming within inches of Navarro's. "But we still know what happens if _you_ don't provide...correct?"

"O-Of course…" said Navarro with a stutter.

"Good!" exclaimed Jack as he walked forward and swung his arms out and focused on marvelling at the exquisite architecture of the ball room.

"D-Did he approve of the latest product?" asked Navarro nervously, Jack tapping his fingers on his cane a few times before he glanced back at him and grinned.

"Indeed. He was pleased. Keep up the good work."

Jack turned back around and began to stride towards the exit, but a thought came to his mind and he stopped to say, "Oh, and by the way, he hopes that this "Nemesis" person won't be a problem for much longer."

"Ha, him? The Gleipnir will easily take care of him. Nothing can match its power." said Navarro with a cocky smirk.

Jack stood still for a few more seconds before he continued on his way, leaving the general in silence. " _Arrogant bastard...the Gleipnir may be an engineering marvel...but up against the Southern Cross, the third brother of the Triple Threat...it won't be able to do a thing._ "

\- Aubrey Air Force Base, Aurelia -

\- May 16th, 2020 1200 hrs -

Cipher, Talisman, Marcus, Nicolai and Lorenz left the day before, and the base already felt different without them. Everyone seemed more spirited when they were around, even though Lorenz hardly ever talked. Either it was their personalities that made everybody feel like that, or maybe it was that they had all been some of the greatest aces to fly the skies, either in the past or currently. It was certainly humbling to be in their presence, that's for sure.

But with Church, it had been an eyeopener. He had learned that he was related, not by blood of course, but by circumstance and by skill to the Demon Lord of the Round Table and one of the Angels of Peace, Garuda 1.

The Ace of Aces, both past and present. It was an honor to even talk to them, but to be _related_ to them as brothers? That was in an entire league of its own.

Before leaving, Cipher had taken him off to the side and had imparted some last words unto him about war and such, something that he would no doubt experience himself later on.

"Listen, Church, I'm gonna be straight with you. War is hell, and at some point you're gonna bear witness to some serious shit that can make you question a lot of things. With me, it was the Seven Pillars of Belka, and for Ethan it was the Attack on St. Petersburg." he had said, Church nodding silently.

"You can have multiple ways of dealing with it, but for us, it's that we know for a fact that _we_ can put a stop to it, and that the sooner we do that, the more innocent lives we'll save. I want you to remember that, okay?"

" _I'll never forget._ " thought Church with a smile as he took his seat in the briefing room and focused in on the holographic projection that was already active when he walked in.

It was of Port Patterson.

Eugene walked in and cleared his throat, saying, "Ah, okay. Let's get started with a report of the situation."

He pressed a button on the remote in his hand and the projection zoomed out, moving over thousands of miles of land before resting on another city on the opposite coast.

"Our best option under the circumstances would be to head towards Santa Elva. The city is a strategic location that we have to pass through to get to the capital, Griswall. But before we can advance on Santa Elva, we must defend the recently captured Port Patterson from a Leasath counterattack."

Church watched as the holographic returned to Port Patterson, but remained zoomed out and highlighted a group of enemy units stationed in the nearby hills of Kingshill, their destination being the port. It seemed to be comprised mostly of ground forces, so in Church's mind he already made a side note to equip his Raptor with ground-attack weapons.

Eugene continued, "The elite Leasath Relámpago Special Forces Unit has been detected making their way towards Port Patterson, and we've determined their goal is to retake the port. The enemy intends to use a partially completed highway runs directly from Kingshill straight into the heart of Port Patterson, so as to swiftly spearhead its way through our defenses."

" _A highway? That'll leave right out in the open. Tch, smart move Leasath._ " thought Church with an evil grin as Eugene droned on about the specifics of the mission.

He stayed tuned out to his voice until he noticed Eugene stop speaking and he stood up, Church leading his wingmen out of the room like he always does.

"It's good to have you back Church. That whole depression you were in really had us for a scare." said Gryphus 6 as they arrived at their hangar contained their jets.

"Yeah, it scared me too. I'm back for good this time though. Now enough about what happened, let's focus on the mission at hand."

"Yes sir!"

\- Kingshill, 2 Miles away from Port Patterson -

\- May 16th, 2020 1300 hrs -

Church and the Gryphus flight zoomed overhead the defensive position their allies had created at the end of the highway, their arrival causing a spur of cheering from the small force. He couldn't help but smile at their friends down below, but deep down he knew that if the enemy somehow had managed to get past them, they wouldn't be able to defend against an attack from the Relámpago Special Forces Unit.

"Enemy ground forces detected on radar up ahead. Be careful, there are several tunnels that are a part of the highway and if any of their tanks get in them, it'll be impossible to spot, let alone attack them from the air." stated Eugene as he input his tactical data into their radars, allowing them to see the RSFU.

"Seems they also have some air cover with them too. I'm seeing fighter jets in the air around the ground units." stated Gryphus 5.

"Wait for enemy vehicles to leave the rendezvous point, then strike."

"Roger. Here's the game plan. Gryphus 5, you take out those jets. Gryphus 6, you're with me. We're gonna show the RSFU a bad time."

"Got your back Church, lead the way." replied Gryphus 6 as they picked up speed while Gryphus 5 raised his altitude to launch a surprise attack on the unsuspecting enemy air forces from above.

When they got within range of seeing the enemy ground forces on the highway, they were spotted by the fighter jets circling them and were broadcasted among them like wildfire. The jets, SU-37s, were sent out to try and keep Church and Gryphus 6 away from the RSFU, but to their shock Gryphus 5 dropped down from above and shot them down easily with a pair of XMAAs.

"Good job! Let's go to work on these guys!"

\- Basset Space Center, Osea -

\- 02'01'13"S 171'10'33"E -

\- Thirty Minutes Later -

"3...2...1...and, launch! Launch!"

The most recent rocket built by Osea fired its rocket engines and in a matter of seconds propelled itself high into the sky, a massive trail of smoke left in its wake. It's cargo merely consisted of some materials that would be used for the construction of a low-orbit satellite for a unnamed project by Gründer Industries.

Painted onto the side of the rocket's midsection was a large butterfly emblem, an unorthodox thing to see on the side of one.

Down in command central for the space center the men and women in charge of its launch cheered at its success while another man dressed in a lab coat merely grinned. " _Good._ "

He turned around and exited the room, pulling out a flat, glowing disk that vibrated when he flicked a switch on its side.

"Are you ready for today, Kvasir?"

"Of course sir, I'm always ready for the young master."

"Excellent, go ahead and log on to Network 23. She'll be waiting for you."

"Very well sir."

\- Anfang, Belka -

\- Same Time -

Cipher opened the door to his house and locked it once he stepped inside, a deep breath of the air giving him a feeling of peace. He turned around and tossed his keys over onto a small table near the door, going into the living room afterwards to relax.

He stopped for a second and smiled as he took a seat on the couch and picked up a wine bottle resting on the table, a sticky note plastered to its face.

"All the way from Aurelia, hope it tastes as good as it looks. Enjoy. J.R" read Cipher with a small smile as he pulled off the note and crumpled it up.

He took the bottle into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from one of the cabinets. He popped open the cork and set it aside as he picked up the bottle and started to pour into the glass.

All of a sudden a waterproof flash drive fell out of the bottle's slender neck and struck the already sizable amount of wine in his glass, Cipher's eyes immediately darting to it.

He picked it up out of his glass and quickly dried it off to analyze its exterior appearance. It was obviously from Jack, but why had he hid it in the wine? Why the secrecy?

He quickly ran into his study and plopped down behind his desk, his laptop immediately turning on with the press of a button. Once he logged in he inserted the USB drive into one of the ports and waited for the two devices to sync, allowing him access into the files stored on the drive.

Once he opened up the only folder it contained, his laptop was flooded by an influx of images, videos and documents that he had never seen nor heard of before. His jaw dropped to the floor as he looked through them, shock and horror taking over his body at the things he saw.

He thought back to the first time he had met Jack. The things he had said. The stuff the world has no idea about.

Now, after seeing the horrors contained inside the flash drive, the nightmarish events the assassin had spoken of became all the more real...and he was afraid to think of what could happen in the future if the ones in the shadows are left unchecked.

"Jack...what kind of monsters are you working for...?"


	14. Darkness

A/N Alrighty than, let's get back to business. I'm beginning my Two Steps from Hell playlist and setting it to maximum epicness. It's how I get the creative juices flowing, y'know. By the way, the "Relámpago Special Forces Unit" was a replacement name for the Miller Unit. I thought Miller was too bland of a name so instead I gave them the name "Lightning" in spanish, which sounded way better. Sorry that this is such a short chapter too, but it was necessary.

Also, I might not be able to upload a chapter next week be since I play sports and I have a tourney, so it's unknown if i'll be able to have a chapter out by then.

Chapter 13 - Darkness

 _Prophecy_

" _Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before._ "

"It fits, doesn't it? That quote. I myself find it ironic in that it relates to me personally. I've seen and done things no man should ever have to do, but _that's just it_. I did them, and I'm proud of it. They need to be done so that I can come one step closer to my dream, my perfect dream. One that has been around for a very, _very_ long time and was originally created by my late predecessor. I admired him, but in the end, he was weak just like the rest. He merely touched the first layer of his inner darkness. I embraced mine and became one with it to become who I am.

…

"Another quote can describe the situation we are in. 'Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness.'. Indeed, our society is so fragile that it always teeters on the edge of destruction. And it is for that reason that _we_ must wipe it all away, begin anew. Humanity is like a plague, and it must be cleansed like the virus it is."

…

"It has taken so long, but it was worth it. The wheels of fate are in motion, our time growing ever closer. There is no one that can stop us. We are Humanity's savior. It is our divine and righteous duty. The world will burn, yes, but from the ashes shall arise a pure, new society that is bound for the very heavens themselves. One government. One religion. One language. _We_ will unite Humanity, whatever the cost."


	15. Rolling Thunder

A/N I've been busy lately, updating past chapters in both AC6 - Angels of Peace and ACZ - Birth of a Legend to have some dates changed and moved around for storyline purposes. One of them being for Jasper's age, instead of being 7 years old when Cipher returns home after the Anean Continental War, he's 4 now, and I'll be sure to update any chapters that include him in this story as well to account for that change. Also, in the chapter named The Final Overture in ACZ - Birth of a Legend, I also modified the age of the little girl in the last portion of the chapter from about 6 years old to 4 years old for the same purposes.

Chapter 14 - Rolling Thunder

 _Under Pressure_

"Allied ground forces are stranded at Stand Canyon. They are members of the Davis Unit who were en route to an assault on Santa Elva when they were cut off from the main force. The Santa Elva offensive could use their support, so we have no other option then to rescue them for their current situation. However, Leasath has already begun mobilizing a search and destroy operation. It's only a matter of time before the Davis Unit is discovered and wiped out. Although the area is within range of the Gleipnir's now identified Shock-Wave Ballistic Missile, by flying low through the canyon it should be possible to avoid an attack by the SWBM. Stay safe out there gentlemen, and good luck."

\- Stand Canyon, Southern Aurelia -

\- May 22nd, 2020 1700 hrs -

Church entered the airspace first with his wingmen by his side, and instantly their radios were met by the transmission of someone from the trapped Davis Unit, most likely on a private channel the Leasath army couldn't access. "This is the Davis Unit. Is backup on its way? If it is, please respond!"

"This is Gryphus 1 of the Gryphus Squadron. We're nearing the canyon now. Just hold tight until we take out all enemy forces within the area." responded Church calmly, a sigh of relief coming from the other side of the channel.

"Thank goodness. Alright, we'll stay hidden until we get the all-clear. I don't know how long these rocks will be able to hide our tanks though…"

"Seems enemy forces within the canyon are dominated by ground vehicles and attack helicopters. This should be a sinch Church." said Gryphus 6 casually as they made their way down into the canyon.

"I would tell you to not get cocky, but it seems like this will be an easy mission. Just stay on guard, you never know what could happen." Church said after quickly surveying the radar for all of the enemy's positions.

"Roger that."

They split off to each go down a separate path in the canyon alone, taking down any enemy unit they came across. And considering Talisman's performance over Port Patterson solidifying Church's reputation as "Nemesis" among the Leasath forces, he had no trouble at all in ripping through their forces with ease.

\- Ceres Ocean-

\- Same Time -

Nagase set down the phone and rubbed her eyebrows, the headache she's had for the last hour and a half causing her discomfort.

"What's the word?" asked Grimm as he and Talisman looked over at her from their seats in the Aigaion's break room.

They were on their way back to Emmeria since their tour at International Territory Bravo was over for the time being, so they were spending their time relaxing and taking free flights around the flying carrier whenever they were bored.

"It's pretty much the same. Harling said they know the asteroids are on their way, but we still don't have an accurate time for when they'll arrive." she said with a heavy sigh, Talisman groaning as he fell back into the couch and crossed his legs over.

Silence dominated the room before a faint ringing was heard, Talisman perking up slightly when he realized it was his cellphone. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen for a fraction of a second before he frantically answered the call and walked over to a random corner, holding the device closely to his ear.

"Yes?" he asked, a voice on the other hand starting to talk while Grimm and Nagase looked at him, obviously confused.

He glanced over at her and mouthed out a question, Nagase shrugging and turning back to Talisman as he turned to the right and tapped the floor multiple times.

"Really? Tell me your joking." said Talisman again, a huge smile beginning to emerge as overwhelming joy took over his body.

He nodded a few more times before he lowered his phone and ended the call, blinking a few times before he collapsed onto his knees and threw his hands in victory, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Yes!"

"What's going on?" asked Nicolai as he casually walked into the room and immediately stopped when he saw Talisman on the ground.

"Yeah, uh, Talisman? Care to inform us?" asked Grimm.

"Sorry, no time. I gotta go." he said quickly when he quite literally jumped to his feet and jogged out the door, completely blowing past Nicolai.

At that moment when he disappeared around the corner, Marcus walked up behind Nicolai and peeked into the room with a raised eyebrow, "Was that Talisman sprinting down the hallway? What happened?"

"That's what we want to know." asked Nagase after Nicolai fully entered the room and took a seat on the couch where Talisman was just at a few minutes before.

"Did he get a call on his phone and get really, really happy?" asked Marcus, the two Razgriz pilots nodding. "Oh, well it's simple."

"Care to inform us?"

Marcus looked at Nicolai with a confused expression. "Did he not tell you guys?"

By that time Talisman had already retrieved his jet and had already gotten clearance from the Aigaion's captain to take off with a single call. He powered up its engines and in a matter of seconds he flew down the hangar floor and zoomed out of the Aigaion's mouth, setting course for Gracemeria mid-takeoff.

" _I'll be there soon!_ " he thought with a smile as he pulled up his flight helmet's visor and narrowed his eyes when he activated the F-15N's afterburners.

\- Stand Canyon, Aurelia -

"Airborne fortress has launched an SWBM! Estimated time to impact twenty seconds!" informed Eugene as soon as he got the data, Church instantly diving down into the canyon underneath one of the many bridges it sported.

"Brace yourselves!" he shouted before he clenched his jaw and readied himself against the coming blast, the missile coming down through a single cloud directly above their last position.

In a flash of blue light the SWBM detonated in a massive explosions that sent a deafening boom like thunder out over the entire canyon, the shockwave its name was attributed to spreading out over the entire area in a matter of seconds. Church held his jet steady when the shockwave passed through him and jarred his vision with its severe shaking, but thankfully as soon as it began it ended and he was able to return to attacking the Leasath ground forces.

"Whoever came up with a weapon like that was nutcase." said Gryphus 5 after he recovered from the missile's detonation.

"No, whoever created the nuclear bomb was a nutcase. I'd gladly deal with a SWBM over a V1 or V2 any day."

"I agree with Church on that one." stated Gryphus 6 with a firm nod. "Nukes just terrify the shit outta me."

"Alright, enough of the chatter. The enemy's almost been dealt with, so let's get this over with." said Church after destroying a platoon of Leasath armor that was getting dangerously close to their allies on the ground.

They had to deal with another SWBM from the Gleipnir a few minutes later, but it was easily avoided thanks to the canyon's walls mitigating the effects of the shockwave, and soon enough the last Leasath tank deployed to Stand Canyon was eliminated.

"Destruction of enemy Leasath force confirmed. Commencing evacuation of Davis Unit. Good job Gryphus, return to base." said Eugene when the enemy contact vanished off radar, finally bringing an end to their operation and the threat to their allies.

"Roger. Let's get going guys."

-We've succeeded in rescuing the Davis Unit from the enemy search party. The men express their gratitude for rescuing them. This victory has also allowed us to begin formalizing a strategy for the recapture of Santa Elva. Before we can actually move our forces to the city, however, we must first deal with the threat of the Gleipnir coming from Terminus Island.

\- Gracemeria, Capital of Emmeria -

\- Twenty Eight Minutes Later -

It took him a little under a half-hour to reach land, and he immediately directed himself towards Gracemeria Air Force Base. A quick call to the control tower got him clearance to land, and he wasted no time in lowering the gear and starting in descent. It took another few minutes to land and roll his plan into an open hangar, and not wanting to waste any more time he sprinted over to an empty jeep and jumped into the driver's seat, started it up with the key still in the ignition, and sped off without saying a word to anyone.

He made his way through the bustling city's traffic over to Novusmeria, parking the jeep right outside the Central Gracemeria Hospital. He jogged in through the door and looked around a few times before he found a nurse he recognized and ran over to her.

A short discussion sent him down the right path through the hospital's labyrinth-like setup, eventually arriving to a room with its door propped open. He stopped himself before walking in and took a deep breath to ease himself before he stepped around the corner and took in what lie within.

The butterflies in the pit of his stomach took flight and started to cause a ruckus as joy bloomed in his heart and made him feel light headed. "I've never seen a sight more beautiful in my life."

"Oh hush. Come here."

Talisman took three strides before he got on one knee beside the one person he had devoted his entire being to. Her name was Anjelica, and she had gorgeous auburn colored hair that was paired with bright green eyes. They had been married for the past three years.

And the reason why she was in the hospital bed covered in a basic white blanket was because just a few minutes before, she had given birth to their child.

"The doctor should be back any second now." she said with a smile as he took her hand in his and squeezed it tightly.

They didn't have to wait long for the doctor to arrive with a nurse in tow, Talisman instantly standing up and walking over to her when he noticed the object resting comfortably in her arms. He barely heard her say that it was a girl as he held out his own two hands so she could be put into them. There were no words spoken as the child, _his_ child, was placed gently into his care, a small tear emerging from the corner of his eye when he looked down at her, at her serene expression.

She opened her eyes and yawned before looking up at him and giving him a toothless smile, Talisman returning the gesture before he walked back over to his wife and kneeled beside her, giving her a perfect view of their child.

"She's beautiful, just like you." he whispered when he placed her into Anjelica's arms so she could have a chance to hold their child.

"What should we name her?" she asked, Talisman thinking for a moment.

"I've got it." he said, his hand reaching over and resting on her hand. "Let's name her Stella."

Anjelica said the name over in her mind and looked back down at their child, smiling when she yawned again and nod her head in agreement. "Stella...that's perfect."

They sat there in silence, marvelling over their newborn child before Talisman picked himself up and pulled out his phone, motioning back towards the hallway with a grin on his face. "I'll be back in a second, I'm going to call a friend."

"Don't be too long." said Anjelica as he walked out through the doorway and leaned back against the wall to wait after choosing the desired contact.

He held the phone up to his ear and tapped his foot in anticipation as the dial tone rang a few times. Finally the person on the other end picked up and cleared his throat before answering with a "Hello?"

"Hey Alek, it's me, Ethan."

"Oh, hey. What's up?" asked Cipher.

"I've got great news. Try and guess what it is." said Talisman gleefully, Cipher rolling his eyes on his end of the connection as he leaned back into his recliner.

"Okay, you finally were able to afford that facial reconstruction to make yourself look better?" he asked, Talisman's smile drooping into a frown.

"Ha ha, go screw yourself too. No, not even close."

"Just tell me man." said Cipher before taking a sip of beer.

"Okay. You remember Anjelica, right?" asked Talisman, Cipher mumbling something incoherent as he gulped down more beer. "Well, she just gave birth. It's a girl."

Cipher lurched forward and spit out beer from both his mouth and somewhat through his nostrils, a growl escaping his lips when he felt the burning sensation. After grabbing a paper towel and cleaning himself off, he grabbed the phone again and exclaimed, "Really?"

"Yup. Her name's Stella. Jasper's got a cousin now." repled Talisman with a smile while Cipher sat back down in his recliner and blinked a few times, the shock of the unexpected news still affecting him.

"Congratulations. Wait, does that mean you're on leave right now?"

"Yeah, I just got back to Gracemeria a few minutes ago. Why?"

"We need to meet again. There's something I need to show you." said Cipher, the smile he was wearing gone and replaced with a heavy frown.

It took a few seconds for Talisman to respond, but when he finally did his voice was a little hushed, "Okay, where?"

"I'll come there, let's say at the usual place. And make sure you're alone too."

"Why?" asked Talisman in wonder at what would someone like Cipher sound spooked.

"You'll find out soon enough. I'll be there in a couple days. I'll have James look after Jasper for me while I'm gone. Alright?"

"Yeah. See you soon."


	16. The Midnight Sun

A/N Here it is , the first engagement between Church and the Gryphus Flight vs the lethal Gleipnir Flying Fortress. I was in a good mood tonight so I decided to upload this early. But how about that last chapter for you guys? Now Talisman's got a kid now named Stella, and we can all pretty much make an assumption that someday in the future she's gonna become a badass fighter pilot just like her father. And I really like the name Stella, since it's the name of a Manga I just started reading that has the main female character named Stella, the manga in question being Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan, or Chivalry of a Failed Knight in English. So good. Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now. Leave a fav and review.

Chapter 15 - The Midnight Sun

 _Overwhelming Power_

\- Gracemeria Castle, Gracemeria -

\- May 26th, 2020 0900 hrs -

Cipher shut the door to the taxi after retrieving his laptop carrier from the seat and waved as the yellow vehicle drove off, his gaze returning to the famous structure standing before him. Gracemeria Castle, one of the city's most visited locations for its collection of artifacts and relics from when Emmeria was first a Kingdom up until modern times, one of its most prominent pieces being the Golden King, a gold statue made in the likeness of King Aurelius II, the founder of the Republic of Emmeria.

He walked up towards the castle's massive oak doors and pushed one of them inward with relative ease, a loud creak echoing throughout the large entrance hall. He returned it to its original position and looked around before making his way towards the throne room, the domain of the Golden King.

"There you are. Took you long enough."

"Oh, hush." said Cipher with a grin when Talisman walked up to him upon entering the throne room, the two shaking hands before making their way up to the throne the Golden King sat upon.

After sitting down on one of the steps surrounding the elevated throne, Cipher set down his laptop carrier and unzipped it so he could pull out the device and rest it on his lap.

"So, what's on your mind?" asked Talisman as he looked over at Cipher when he logged on and pulled out a flash drive from his pocket.

"This is. And I'm going to warn you, but, what you're about to see is some serious shit." he said as he inserted the drive into one of the laptop's ports and maneuvered the cursor with the mouse pad over to the one file it contained.

"Okay…?" said Talisman as Cipher handed over the laptop and let him hold it on his lap, Talisman double tapping the mouse pad to click on the file to open it up.

In a matter of seconds, the expression on his face morphed from one of doubt and intrigue to horror. Absolute horror.

\- Terminus Island, Southern Aurelia -

\- May 27th, 2020 0000 hrs -

Church and the other members of Gryphus Squadron passed into the airspace with the remainder of their naval fleet churning along through the icy arctic waters below them. He could remember the briefing they had thirty minutes before back at Aubrey Air Force Base.

Their mission was to jointly assault the Gleipnir Flying Fortress at its refueling base here at Terminus Island and bring it down. Sounded easy enough, only the sailors of the Aurelian Navy joining them had no idea what Leasath's superweapon was capable of. Church, however, had seen and been inside what the Gleipnir, and even its precursor the Gandr, could do with just a single SWBM.

" _Even though data shows that after analyzing the SWBM that the shockwave it produces won't affect anything at ground level since it disperses, I still have a bad feeling about this…_ " he thought uncertainly.

He pushed his own personal thoughts aside and began to scan the skies closely for any sign of the Gleipnir, considering they all knew that just like the Gandr the Gleipnir was bound to possess that camouflaging ability that can turn it invisible.

"1st Fleet to 3rd Fleet. Any sign of the Gleipnir?" asked one of the Aurelian captains as they surveyed the area.

"3rd Fleet here. No sign of it yet."

"Understood. Continue your patrol of the area."

Church another sweep with narrowed eyes of the sky and clacked his teeth together, the anxiety of an impending surprise attack starting to get on his nerves.

"Church, do you hear that?" asked Gryphus 6, the Aurelian focusing all of his efforts on his hearing and finding nothing out of the ordinary.

"I hear nothing."

"That's just it, it's quiet. Freakishly quiet." she replied with a shiver as she looked over her shoulder, thinking that the Gleipnir would appear right behind her.

"It feels like they're watching us, waiting for the moment when we drop our guards…" muttered Gryphus 5, his eyes darting left and right as the paranoia began to set in.

They flew in silence, making a wide turn over the Aurelian Fleet so as to get a better view of the area around them. It was nerve-racking, the silence and the tension in the air. When they finally reached the rear end of the fleet, they started to make a round-about when all of a sudden a distinct sound unlike anything they had ever heard before entered their ears.

"What the hell was that…?" asked Gryphus 6 in a low voice before, seemingly out of thin air, the Gleipnir itself appeared in the sky at two thousand feet directly over the main portion of the Aurelian fleet.

Their ships wasted no time in opening fire on the Flying Fortress with their guns and missiles, the weapons striking the heavily armored belly of the Gleipnir and visibly doing no damage the goliath of an aircraft.

"The SWBM can't reach us here, but watch out for conventional ordnance!" ordered one of the Aurelian captains as they continued to attack with everything they had.

Church at first was confident that the Gleipnir wouldn't be able to harm them, but that feeling of despair and doubt he had a short while ago came back full force when he spotted a disk built into the belly of the Gleipnir, something he remembered that wasn't on the Gandr. Then it began to glow with the same blue light that would appear once an SWBM would detonate.

"Look, the disk on the bottom has started to glow. What's it going to do now?" asked an Aurelian sailor on board one of the naval vessels directly beneath the Gleipnir as the light glowed brighter and brighter.

Just when things couldn't have gotten any worse than the time Church had experienced the SWBM first-hand, the disk on the bottom of the Gleipnir released a massive shockwave that hammered the five Aurelian ships underneath it and completely smashed them flat while producing large tidal waves that spread out in all directions. Terror took over the hearts and minds of any who were watching as the shattered remains of their allied ships sunk beneath the waves, the bodies of the sailors on board not even rising to float atop the water's surface.

"The ships under the Gleipnir just disintegrated!"

"All of those ships destroyed in an instant...such destructive power…" uttered Eugene in horrified awe as the Gleipnir reactivated its camouflage and turned invisible once more, Church snarling in anger.

"Gryphus Squadron, you can't allow the Gleipnir and that new weapon to wipe out the remainder of our fleet! We'll be unable to sustain our military if its destroyed!"

"Roger, roger! Just send us the coordinates of that thing so we can shoot it down!" yelled Gryphus 5 as they sped over to where the rest of their fleet lie open in the arctic waves.

"Whatever that thing uses to make itself invisible shields it from radar detection as well. I can't pick it up until it reveals itself!"

"Dammit all!" growled Gryphus 5 as he frantically searched the skies for any sign of the Gleipnir.

A few seconds passed before the behemoth showed itself once again and started to make its way towards the fleet, no doubt aiming to destroy it.

Church, without giving second thought to it at all, fired four consecutive XMAAs right at the Gleipnir just when it began to vanish once again. He visible saw them strike its hull and grinned slightly at how they were able to still touch it.

"Don't lose sight of it!" exclaimed Eugene, Church wrenching his jet to the right and narrowing his eyes to try and make out the Gleipnir's invisible form.

It took a few seconds, but after he saw an iceberg floating on the waves below seemingly bend and twist slightly, he knew that the Flying Fortress must've passed over it and he took advantage it had given him, letting loose a torrent of bullets and several missiles without a lock-on straight ahead.

A few more explosions appeared out of nowhere and the Gleipnir's camouflage seemed to falter, its body and the terrain around it flickering and blending together for a few seconds. Gryphus 5 and 6 followed up with missiles of their own, and after making contact with the Flying Fortress, the Gleipnir's cover was totally blown and it was revealed to all.

"Optical Camouflage system critical! The system won't hold!" yelled a Leasath officer on board the Gleipnir when they became visible, Church grinning evilly when he could finally see his prey.

"No matter. Activate external weapons systems and prepare for SWBM launch." ordered the Gleipnir's captain calmly as the gargantuan ships began to climb upwards.

Church was forced to split off from pursuing the Gleipnir when several AA guns and AAM systems built into the hull of the aircraft opened fire on him and his wingmen to prevent them from causing further damage.

"They're attempting to return to base for repairs. Gryphus 1, you can't let them escape!" ordered Eugene, Church clenching his jaw and jamming the thrust all the way forward so as take on the Gleipnir once again.

"Damn he's persistent...shoot down Nemsis! Show him just what kind of monster he's dealing with!" ordered the Gleipnir's captain with an evil smile as the full defense network of the Flying Fortress came alive, a swarm of missiles firing out from several silos built into the hull of the aircraft, their target none other then Church.

" _Dammit, this thing's gonna be one tough nut to crack._ " thought Church with a grunt as he swerved left and right to avoid oncoming projectiles while launching his own missiles at the Gleipnir's defense systems.

To his surprise the missiles were suddenly shot out of the sky before they even got close, and just by how fast the bullets that destroyed them left the hull of the Gleipnir he knew just what kind of defense system he was dealing with. " _They must've mixed in CIWS systems on board with the AA guns and AAMs. As long as they're active I won't be able to land a single hit on the Gleipnir. Dammit, they really put a lot of thought into this thing._ "

He quickly ducked to the side when his missile alert sirens kicked in, a growl escaping his lips. Gryphus 5 and 6 flew in from the right and commenced their own attack on the Flying Fortress, but just like with him their missiles were shot out of the sky by the highly effective CIWS network on board the Gleipnir.

"Just what kind of aircraft is this thing?!" sputtered Gryphus 6 after she barely avoided a storm of bullets, the Gleipnir's altitude continuing to rise at a steady rate.

"Sir, SWBM ready to launch."

"Fire!"

A missile silo at the very top of the Flying Fortress slid open and one of its deadly weapons shot out from its interior trailing fire and smoke. It got away too quick for Church to even have a chance of destroying it, so the only thing he could do was try to figure out a way to escape it and live.

"We can't do anything at this point against that defense system. Let them go." he ordered with a frustrated growl.

"But Church, we can't let them leave!"

"I'd rather us live to take that thing on with a better strategy then die here uselessly!" shouted Church angrily, quickly shutting up Gryphus 5's protest.

He dropped his altitude and returned to the fleet ships that weren't destroyed by the Gleipnir, Gryphus 5 and 6 begrudgingly following behind without a word. The Flying Fortress safely made it away and once the SWBM it fired dropped down from above, the shockwave it produced did little to its body thanks to its large size.

They had finally been given a chance to take down Leasath's trump card that had consistently been a pain in their ass, and they were met by a stone wall that couldn't be broken through. The Gleipnir had just shown that not only can it wipe out entire air squadrons, but entire fleets as well. It was truly a monstrous weapon of war.

"Gleipnir has escaped...Dammit, we were so close." said Eugene as the fleet set course back to Port Patterson with the silent Gryphus Squadron flying overhead.

-We were unsuccessful in destroying the Gleipnir, and to add insult to injury, we lost a good portion of our naval fleet to a new weapon just as destructive as the SWBM. There's a high risk of casualties if we advance on Santa Elva with our full force now that the Gleipnir has retreated there, but we have no other choice. Get ready. This will be your toughest mission yet.

\- Sand Island, Osea -

\- May 27th, 2020 1000 hrs -

Grimm and Nagase were sitting in the break room of the base they had come to call their home, watching a show called Blue Bloods on the T.V, before they both perked up upon hearing the sound of a roaring jet engine pass overhead. Grimm instantly paused the show and flew out of the room with Nagase in tow, smiles on their faces as they ran outside and watched as a black Embraer Phenom 300 flew made a wide swoop and lowered its landing gears

"I see I wasn't the only one who heard the jet engines." said Pops with a chuckle as he joined them in watching the light jet aircraft make its descent and land on the island runway.

Once the jet came to a complete halt, the trio walked across the tarmac and stood patiently next to it while they waited for their guest to emerge. A minute passed and the door was lowered down, allowing the person the jet had transported there to walk down and adjust his black suit and tie.

"No welcoming party, I presume?"

"We're all the welcoming party you need! Welcome back!" said Pops cheerfully as the third and oldest member of the Razgriz Air Command Squadron, Marcus Snow, walked over and shook his hand with a big smile on his face.

"Hey Grimm, Nagase. Good to see you guys again. Sorry I couldn't be around, you know, dealing with election stuff and all." said Snow as he shook hands with Grimm and received a hug from Nagase.

"I'm dying to know, but how are the polls right now?" asked Grimm, crossing his arms afterwards.

"Well, I don't mean to brag but…" Snow said as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm way in the lead over the other Republican candidates. Don't even get me started on the Democrats either."

"That's great! Has Harling been paying attention to the polls too?" asked Nagase as they walked back towards the main compound with Grimm while Pops helped the pilot of the private jet maneuver into one of the open hangars.

"Of course he has, and he's sure that I'm going to be taking over the oval office from him come November. And to be honest, I'm gonna have a lot on my plate considering the threat of Odysseus and such." said Snow with a nod.

"It's not gonna be the same without you Marcus, y'know." said Grimm as he let out a sigh, thinking back to the Circum-Pacific War and their time as a squadron under the command of Cipher.

"Yeah, I know, and I'm gonna miss being a Razgriz. But at the same time, I'm getting too old to be flying any more. I mean look at me, I'm forty four years old. I was gonna have to retire sooner or later." stated Snow as he clapped Grimm on the shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"And there's this too. In the future, when our time in the sky is done, we'll have the pleasure of watching the next generation of pilots take to the skies."

"Yeah...the next generation." said Nagase with a smile as she looked up into the sky to the brightly shining sun above.


	17. Standoff in the Skies

A/N Yup, I made the Gleipnir into a totally OP enemy. And now instead of facing a damaged Gleipnir over Santa Elva like what would happen in Ace Combat X if you had taken the Midnight Sun route, Church and company are gonna be squaring off against it with all of its functions still intact. This is gonna be interesting.

Chapter 16 - Standoff in the Skies

 _Strength of a Thousand Men_

\- Aubrey Air Force Base, Cape Aubrey, Aurelia -

\- June 1st, 2020 1500 hrs -

"I'll now go over the details of our mission to retake Santa Elva, a city vital to the enemy's transportation network." Eugene said as he activated the 3-D briefing system and locked in its coordinates with the city of Santa Elva. "If we succeed in retaking this city, our capital Griswall will be within our reach."

Church leaned forward with his elbows propped up on his knees and focused intensely on the 3-D overlay of the city, his eyes set square on the marked out circle that they assumed would be where the Gleipnir would be positioned. He highly doubted it considering the Flying Fortress could become invisible and move around undetected.

"Due to our unsuccessful attempt at bringing down the Gleipnir over Terminus Island, the Flying Fortress has now retreated to Santa Elva and will no doubt stand in our way if we attempt to recapture the city. Both our air and ground forces would be at serious risk of heavy casualties from both the SWBM and the aircraft's so-called "Shock Cannon"." continued Eugene as he brought up a rendered image of the Gleipnir with its weapons marked out for them to see.

"With heavy consideration from our commanding officers, we've come to only one course of action. Gryphus Squadron, our ace in the hole, will attack Santa Elva alone and take on the Gleipnir, seeing how they are the only ones with combat experience against it."

Eugene looked directly at Church, Gryphus 5 and 6, a cold and grim expression on his face. They could tell he was absolutely serious with what he was saying.

"Our forces will be ready and waiting outside the combat zone and will wait for the all-clear to advance. You will have no back-up, since we do not want to run the risk of losing any more of our forces to the Gleipnir. Your one and only mission is to engage the Gleipnir head-on and bring it down. Only then will we be able to take back our city. I wish you three good luck."

Gryphus 5 gulped nervously and glanced over at Gryphus 6, who looked just as afraid as he was. The two then looked at Church and in an instant their fears were pushed aside upon seeing the confident grin plastered on their flight lead's face.

He wasn't the least bit afraid at the idea of taking on the Gleipnir Flying Fortress, Leasath's ultimate weapon. In fact, he was _excited_. He could barely contain himself, considering this will be the ultimate test for their skills as ace pilots.

"Let's go guys. We've got us a superweapon to destroy." he said as he stood up and left the room, Gryphus 5 and 6 looking at eachother again for a fraction of a second before they nodded and followed after him.

A few minutes later and they were up in the air in their Raptors, all fueled up and stocked full of ammunition for the coming battle. As he brought up his landing gear, Church pulled out a small object from his flight suit's pocket and held it up in front of him, the sunlight glinting off its golden finish.

It was Cipher's coin, its surface engraved with the symbol of the world famous 66th Air Force Squadron "Galm". He had given it to him before leaving Aubrey Air Force Base.

" _I am the brother to the Demon Lord of the Round Table and the Angel of Peace. They've taken down Heavy Command Cruisers, Chemical Laser Towers and all other sorts of advanced weaponry. I will live up to my name not as Church, but as Leonard Costner, the Southern Cross of Aurelia and Nemesis to the Leasath Armed Forces!_ "

\- Santa Elva, Aurelia -

\- June 1st, 2020 1700 hrs -

The Gryphus Squadron entered the airspace and set their sights for the city, the Leasath air units currently circling Santa Elva spotting them on their radars and reporting their position.

"I've picked something up on radar. It's Nemesis! He's here!"

"So...the Southern Cross has finally come. Launch all fighters!" ordered the Leasath soldier in charge of the forces stationed in the city, several Leasath SU-37s joining the jets already in the air and heading out towards the three-man Aurelian squadron.

"Gryphus 5, split off and raise altitude by four hundred feet. Gryphus 6, lower altitude by three hundred feet. Let's greet our friends with our special brand of hospitality!"

"Roger!" they replied, Church gunning it and grinning in excitement as the enemy drew closer and closer.

The Leasath fighters were expecting swift and easy victory over the Aurelian squadron, but there was a reason why he was known as "Nemesis". In what seemed like a matter of seconds, their thirty jet fighters armed to the teeth were knocked out one by one until none remained. Church blew past the falling burning wreckage of the last SU-37 and began to hungrily look for any sign of the real prey in the skies around them.

"Show yourself! I already know you're here!" he shouted across all channels in attempt to bait the Gleipnir out of hiding.

He was met with silence. The Flying Fortress was remaining just out of their sight, waiting for the opportune moment to strike just like last time.

" _They still have forces in the city below, so using the Shock Cannon would be out of the question for them. Which leaves you with just the SWBM, and I can easily deal with that just like with the Gandr._ " thought Church after scanning the sky again.

Another minute of dead silence passed by dreadfully slow before finally, the Gleipnir appeared out of nowhere on the complete other side of the city, Church narrowing his eyes in silent fury.

"It was foolish of you to come here alone, Nemesis." said the Gleipnir's captain darkly as an SWBM was launched out from one of its eight missile silos before its Optical Camouflage activated once again.

"Dive towards the ground!" ordered Church quickly, the three of them quickly descending towards the city below so as to avoid the effective range of the missiles deadly shockwave.

As they passed over a fairly empty square, Church caught a glimpse of a group of tanks positioned in its center and instantly he was overtaken with shock. Just from how they acted in the slight breeze he could tell that they weren't actual tanks. They were blow-ups, fakes. And if he could find them there...then they would have to be around the entire city.

"Dammit! The entire city is empty! There's no ground forces here at all!" he exclaimed before the SWBM detonated in the air above them with a bright flash.

"What?! Then that means…" uttered Gryphus 5 nervously before they all looked up when a dark shadow appeared over them, the Gleipnir's underbelly staring back at them with the Shock Cannon already emitting a bright blue light.

"Fire!" ordered the Gleipnir's captain, the Shock Cannon letting out a thunderous boom as it fired straight down, flattening everything underneath in a split second.

The Flying Fortress turned invisible once again once it realized that the Aurelians had somehow managed to avoid the attack, with those three in particular on the verge of having heart attacks after the near-miss.

"Holy shit...that was entirely too close…" breathed Gryphus 6 as she let out a series of quick breaths.

"They purposefully evacuated the city of their forces so the Gleipnir could utilize both its SWBM and the Shock Cannon without worry of friendly casualties. Smart bastards…" growled Gryphus 5 after recovering from the sudden attack, Church looking back down at the section of the city that had been flattened and thanking god that it had been on the outskirts.

"Eugene, you there? Please tell me that the people of Santa Elva were evacuated too."

"Give me a second…" replied their AWACS, Church tapping his foot against the bottom of his aircraft impatiently as he continued to scan the skies for any sign of the Gleipnir. "Damn, they're still there, but they've concentrated in the center of the city. That section that was just destroyed didn't contain anyone. If at all possible keep the Gleipnir away from the center so there will be no civilian casualties."

"Got it. We won't be able to survive another attack like that, so here's the plan. You two will fly around the city as fast as you can while I remain here. They're focused solely on me, so I doubt they'll pay you guys any attention. Once you've spotted the Gleipnir either before or after it reveals itself, pound away at it and deactivate its Optical Camouflage like over Terminus Island." explained Church quickly, his wingmen following the order without question.

They reached the outer edge of the city and began to search for the Gleipnir, their head swiveling back and forth, left and right. Church licked his lips and he clenched his jaw muscles in anticipation. He got it when the Gleipnir appeared to his right and fired another SWBM, meaning they only had a minute to lower their altitude to avoid the shockwave it produced. And just like he had suspected, they weren't even paying attention to his wingmen, who by now had already plotted its position in their minds as they lowered their altitudes.

"SWBM impact in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, impact!" informed Eugene as Church reached the safety zone and looked up to watch the missile explode and send out its deadly shockwave in all directions.

"Now!" he yelled, Gryphus 5 and 6 quickly rising up after the shockwave dissipated and beginning to attack the invisible Gleipnir with dummy-fired missiles, several fireballs appearing the air before the shimmering and static-filled outline of the Flying Fortress came into existence.

"Damn, we forgot about the other two! Optical Camouflage system has been rendered unusable!"

"Now's our chance! Cause as much damage to Gleipnir before it activates its CIWS network!" ordered Church when he appeared right behind his wingmen and began to lock onto the missile silos atop the Gleipnir, intending to render them incapable of launching any more SWBMs.

"You dirty pest, it's time you met your maker." snarled the Gleipnir's captain, the bullets and missiles beginning to fly out from the Flying Fortress as its nigh-impenetrable defense network came online.

"Yeah, how about no?" said Church with a grin as he weaved through the oncoming fire and sprayed one of the CIWS guns with his Raptor's 20mm cannon.

The weapon exploded in a cloud of smoke, marking the first visible mark of damage they had caused to the Gleipnir, and from there it only got better. Gryphus 6 brought down another one of the Flying Fortress' CIWS emplacements, reducing the probability of their missiles being shot down greatly and allowing them to directly attack the Gleipnir once again.

When they tried to retaliate by firing an SWBM, Church and company would simply fly down and away from the Flying Fortress so as to avoid the ballistic missile and negate any probability of being attacked by the Shock Cannon.

"I've had enough of this!" said the Gleipnir's captain as he walked over to station belonging to the officer in charge of launching SWBMs and mashed several buttons all at once, the six missile silos that were still functioning all launching out one of the lethal missiles, their point of detonation arranged in a full circle around the city that left no room for the Aurelians to hide from them without being almost completely underneath the Gleipnir.

"Try to survive that, Nemesis!"

Church smirked as he let loose four XLAAs alongside Gryphus 6 that obliterated the missile silos and robbed them of their ability to launch any more SWBMs while Gryphus 5 continued to hammer away at the hull of the Gleipnir, destroying as many AA guns and AAMs as he could.

"Simultaneous SWBM impact in five seconds! Brace yourselves!" warned Eugene when the missiles came down through the cloud barrier, just moments away from detonation.

The Gleipnir's captain sneered evilly, thinking that victory was theirs and that the threat of "Nemesis" would soon be over, but to his surprise the Aurelians maneuvered their jets to fly right underneath the Gleipnir's wings when the missiles went off, the large body of the Flying Fortress protecting their lighter aircraft from the devastating shockwaves while at the same time keeping themselves out from underneath the Shock Cannon.

"This is it! Hammer them!" said Church as he barreled out and away once the shockwaves dissipated, the squadron recommencing their attack and causing further damage to the Gleipnir.

"Dammit! Smoke's pouring into the bridge!" shouted a crew member within the behemoth's bridge, the captain cursing several times under his breath as it started to get increasingly difficult to breath.

Suddenly a huge explosion rocked the aircraft and they started to lose thrust from the left wing's engines, slowly dropping their altitude with every passing second.

"Power is failing! We can't maintain our current altitude!"

The Gleipnir's captain, now left with no other options and defeat staring him in the face, walked over to the radio and connected directly to the Leasath Central Command so as to leave a message of their defeat at the hands of the Southern Cross.

Now without nothing else left, he grinned madly as he set his sights on the center of Santa Elva. "Prepare the Shock Cannon! Let us strike out at Aurelia one last time before we depart from this world!"

At first, Church didn't know what was going on, but after looking down the Lena River at the city, his heart skipped a beat when he returned to the Gleipnir and watched it angle itself upward with the Shock Cannon aimed directly at the city.

"The Gleipnir's attempting to hit the city with the Shock Cannon! Destroy it before it gets within range of firing! The lives of thousands are at stake!"

"I'm on it!" shouted Church as he picked up speed and blew past the slowly falling form of the Gleipnir, his eyes glued to the massive disk built into its underbelly.

Once he got a far enough distance away he turned back around and went straight for the Flying Fortress, letting loose missile after missile so as to destroy the weapon before it could be fired. Smoke and fire began to bill out of its underside the more it got damaged, and soon enough another massive explosion ripped open a gash in its hull and sent it over the edge, not only destroying the Shock Cannon but marking the end for Leasath's Flying Fortress.

But still it continued on towards the city.

"They're gonna try and hit the city with the Gleipnir itself?! Those bastards!"

Just then another explosion tore apart the right wing's engines, the loss of its remaining thrust meaning the Gleipnir couldn't possibly make it to the city on just gliding alone. As it got closer and closer to the river below, the Gleipnir's captain watched in sorrow and accepted his fate.

"The Gleipnir...All of our dreams for retribution…"

One of its wing tips struck the river first, causing massive waves to form as it drug its metal frame across the surface for several hundred feet before the rest of the body came crashing down, its hull getting ripped to shreds and creating more fire and smoke from within. The Gleipnir's nose smashed through a single bridge before it finally came to a halt, half underneath the water.

Then a massive explosion ruptured the back of the Flying Fortress, spewing enormous amounts of fire and smoke into the sky as a massive cloud that signalled the end of the Gleipnir's life.

"The Gleipnir has been shot down. I repeat, the Gleipnir is no more!" announced Eugene, Church and his wingmen letting out a huge sigh of relief.

A few minutes later and their ground forces pushed into the city without any resistance whatsoever. Santa Elva was theirs again, thanks to the members of the Gryphus Squadron, who what seems against fate itself were able to bring down Leasath's fearsome weapon of war and turn the tide in their favor.

"Come on guys, let's get back to base. I think we've _all_ earned a nice break."

"You said it."

-The Gleipnir has finally been destroyed, and Santa Elva is under Aurelian control once again. Both of these major victories are sure to boost morale and give us a strategic advantage in this war, something we haven't had for a very long time. Next we liberate the capital, Griswall. There's nothing standing in our way now.

\- Cinigrad, Yuktobania, Verusean Union -

\- June 1st, 2020 1824 hrs -

"The Fall of the Flying Fortress. Attack on Santa Elva, Southern Cross' Nightmare." Nicolai read aloud after receiving the newspaper at his home in the capital of his home of Yuktobania, the largest country within the Verusean Union.

"Unthinkable. He actually brought down the Gleipnir, and alone with nothing but his two wingmen by his side no less. He's certainly gonna give that Emmerian Talisman a run for his money as the Ace of Aces." said his guest, a certain old friend of his from Osea that had spent time in the country before.

"Indeed. So I hear Marcus is running for President now, is he?"

"You heard right." replied Bartlett with a grin after taking a sip of his drink. "And he's pretty good right now. He's ahead of all the other Republican candidates and will undoubtedly blow the winning Democrat candidate out of the water."

"Good. We're about to get a new Prime Minister here in Yuktobania as well, so I hope that he and Snow will be able to work together just like Harling and Nikanor have in the past."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want another repeat of the Circum-Pacific War to happen again."

\- Gaiuss Tower, Griswall, Aurelia -

\- June 1st, 2020 2200 hrs -

The chatter of the nightly parties fell into silence. In place of the sumptuous banquet, weapons to protect the capital were rolled in almost daily. Griswall is in turmoil over the shocking news. And who would've thought the war plaguing the nation had an even more sinister side to it, one a certain general didn't want to public to know of.

Aurelia's exploitation of Leasath was all a ruse. In fact, Aurelia had been Leasath's largest benefactor in aid. The truth remained hidden from the public while any aid meant for food was spent on arms, ranging from tanks to fighters to the creation of the prototype Gandr and its successor, the Gleipnir Flying Fortress. Navarro wasn't just in control of the nation's military, but also their arms industry as well. The war against Aurelia had merely been a means to amass a huge amount of money from the continued conflict.

Even after the destruction of his country's fearsome Flying Fortress, Navarro still remained relatively at ease. The truth, however, was that he was deathly afraid.

He gulped nervously when the last guest he invited to the party left the ball room, leaving him seemingly all alone within its large expanse.

"So, the mighty Gleipnir Flying Fortress was brought down by just _three_ fighter jets?"

The sweat dripping down the general's face only doubled as the cold and sinister voice of Jack the Ripper reached his ears from behind him, the assassin casually walking up to him with his hands in his pockets.

Navarro tried to say something, but all he could do was open and close his mouth and continue to shake in fear when Jack rested his hand on the man's shoulder gently. "I understand, there must've been something wrong that lead to its destruction."

All of a sudden Jack thrust his foot into the back of Navarro's legs and knocked him to the ground, the general letting out either a grunt or a whimper when he landed on his hands and knees.

"I won't let it happen again, I promise! What we have currently being built, it'll surely work!" he said when Jack planted his foot on top of his back and pushed him onto his chest and pinned him, the assassin grinning madly down at the helpless general.

"Of course you won't, considering that's strike two. And we both know what happens when we reach strike three, _correct?_ " asked Jack as he removed his heel from the man's spine and took a couple of steps back.

Navarro rolled over and looked up at the assassin with wide eyes when three unknown men in black suits and red ties, each wearing opaque dark red glasses, appeared on either side of Jack with stone-cold expressions.

"Gentlemen, please remind our friend here of the consequences should he fail." said Jack evilly as two of the suited men pulled out telescopic metal nightsticks while the third walked around Navarro and pulled him up, forcefully holding his arms behind his back and restraining him.

Jack pressed a button on a watch he wore and automatically locked the doors of the ballroom, which he had secretly modified to be sound-proof in his past-time, and watched gleefully as the two men with nightsticks repeatedly pounded Navarro in the gut, causing him to grunt and yell out in pain after each blow.

After ten straight minutes of continuous strikes, the man holding the now bruised and bloody general allowed him to drop to his knees and clutch his stomach, Jack walking up to him and kneeling before him to grasp his hair tightly and raise his eyes up to his.

"I hope we see eye to eye now, Diego." he said before he let go of the general and began to walk with the three men towards the ballroom doors, leaving Navarro in the center of the room with blood dripping from his lips and an overwhelming sense of terror coursing through him.

Before closing one of the doors, Jack couldn't help himself from looking back over his shoulder at Navarro and grinning. " _Good job Gryphus 1, you're nearly there._ "


	18. Nonexistent

A/N Welp, I would feel bad for Navarro, but he's an asshole for not caring for his country's citizens and giving them the aid they need and instead using it to develop weapons for the military. He got what he deserved. And I'm gonna go ahead and say this now, but this story will be pretty short compared to my others, so I apologize for that.

Chapter 17 - Nonexistent

 _Lost in Darkness_

\- Alendai, Capital of Leasath -

\- June 5th, 2020 2245 hrs -

Jack took his time in strolling the streets of Leasath's capital. a wary glance going his way every few minutes due to his ghastly facial appearance. Instead of dressing in his normal attire, he had decided to wear a black suit, dress pants and tie so as to blend more into the passing crowd. He was a wanted criminal after all, and he made sure that any appearances of him were correctly wiped, but he couldn't be too careful.

Considering his reputation among the criminal underworld, he's forged quite a few unique relationships. On a couple of occasions he's had assassins sent to kill him, and every time he had been sure to return them to their employers in pieces. He's also had to work together with various other criminals to accomplish jobs, and after their completion he either had to kill them due to a double-cross, or he became good friends with them.

Right now, he was on his way to meet the one person he really considered a friend since they shared similar ideologies.

He walked through the doors of his favorite bar, smiling slightly at the man standing beside the door, in the city and strolled over to a vacant booth, giving a nod to the bartender. He was a frequent visitor here, so much so that he had a tab here. Another plus though was that Jack and him were good friends and that he had paid the man to keep his identity a secret.

" _Let's hope he's not late._ " thought Jack with a grin as he thanked the bartender when he brought him his usual drink.

"Waiting on someone?" he asked, Jack nodding a few times.

"An old friend, yes."

He didn't press any further and left Jack to his drink, a smart decision. Jack took another sip of his beer and perked up slightly when the doors opened and a peculiar looking individual walked in. He remembered trying to read up on him after they had completed their first job together and finding out that there was absolutely nothing out there about the man. He had literally wiped himself off the face of the Earth, using an unnamed, untraceable and offshore bank account for his financial means. Technically, he didn't even exist.

What he did know was only thanks to meeting him personally. He was a caucasian male, 6'2" and dressed in grey, untucked long-sleeve zip-neck sweater underneath a modern brown, knee-length trench coat. To complete his outfit he wore dark grey trousers, brown boots, a neckwarmer scarf tucked into the neck of his sweater and a dark brown cap.

While Jack's profession was assassination, this man was a part of a group of people called Grey Hats, hackers who existed in between the opposite ends of the spectrum, Black Hats and White Hats respectively. There was no encryption he couldn't crack and no string of data he couldn't track, he could find anyone in the world with the press of a button. he as a true professional in his line of work. And when the going got tough, he was an exceptional fighter and was also great with wielding firearms.

In short, this man was the second most dangerous man alive, and he was Jack's best friend and comrade.

"It's good to see you again in person Jack." said the man in a deep, gravelly voice with a smile as he took a seat opposite Jack in the booth and rested his arms on the table.

"Still dressed in the same outfit?" he asked.

"Definitely better then your usual." replied the man with a chuckle.

He pulled out his smartphone and rested it on the table, pressing on an app and looking at it for a few seconds before closing the screen.

"So, how has it been Ayden?" asked Jack after another sip of beer, his friend sighing and rubbing his tired eyes.

"The same as usual. Before coming here I had to track down this scumbag living in Sotoa under another name. Definitely did the world a favor by killing him." replied Ayden.

"You know, I never truly figured out how you were able to keep track of all that information and data." said Jack with a grin as Ayden glanced down at his phone again when it vibrated and he rolled his eyes.

"Oh? Like how the man out in front of the bar had a sixty five percent chance of committing a crime, and that now it's risen to one hundred percent?" he asked with a smirk before the doors to the bar opened up and the very same man he was talking about walked in with a visible bulge in his coat pocket.

To Jack's surprise, he pulled out a pistol and pointed it straight at the bartender, the man demanding he handed him all of the money he had in the cash register.

"If you'll excuse me for a second." said Ayden before he pulled his scarf up and over the bridge of his nose to cover his face and silently stood up from the booth.

He calmly approached the man and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. When he turned around with a confused expression on his face, he said, "Sorry, but you're disturbing the peace."

In a flash his hand flew into his trench coat's interior and withdrew a telescopic baton while he kicked the man's feet out from under him. As he fell Ayden knocked the gun out of his hand with his elbow and pinned him to the ground with his knee, his arm holding his baton doing the rest of the work when he smashed it into the man's head twice and knocked him out cold.

Ayden let out the breath he had held and collapsed the baton into its compact form to store it inside his coat, his eyes moving up to the bartender and the somewhat shocked expression he bore alongside the other customers inside the bar.

"Sorry about that."

"It's fine, I appreciate you doing that." replied the bartender with a warm smile, Ayden nodding once before he pulled down his scarf, cleared his throat, and returned to the booth where Jack sat.

"Well that was certainly entertaining to watch." he said as Ayden picked up his phone and held it up so Jack could see the home screen.

"And to answer your question, I work all of my magic from here when not back at my base of operations." he said, Jack raising an eyebrow and grinning. "And also, referring to the _real_ reason why we met, I got what you need."

"Ah, yes."

Ayden opened up an unseen app on his phone and tapped the screen, Jack's phone suddenly vibrating in his pocket a second later. He pulled it out and unlocked the main screen, his already wide grin growing bigger when he opened the email Ayden had sent to him and briefly skimmed through it.

"Perfect. There really is no one else who can do the work you can."

"That's because there isn't. I'll meet you here, same time tomorrow." replied Ayden as he pocketed his phone and stood up, Jack doing the same after he finished his beer. "And remember, I was never here in the first place."

They shook hands and walked out of the bar together, Jack telling the bartender to put the drink on his tab. Once the doors closed behind them, Ayden took a few steps back and winked at him once before he covered his face once again, stuffed his hands into his coat pockets and faded back into the crowd.

Jack looked at the space of air he had once been at a few moments ago for a few more seconds before he pulled back out his phone and opened his email. He pressed on the file and read through it more thoroughly, his brow furrowing.

" _Seems the rumors were true. It's time I payed a visit to some...royalty._ "

\- Aubrey Air Force Base, Aurelia -

\- June 6th, 2020 1032 hrs -

"Alright, allow me to brief you on the current roadblocks on the route to Griswall. First off, the enemy soldiers that were preemptively evacuated from Santa Elva in the hopes that the Gleipnir would be able to halt our advance with its full strength, are regrouping at the Kalana Steppes and are planning an attacking and retaking the city. Meanwhile at Sachana Air Force Base, the enemy special forces unit Skylla has been seen setting up camp there and preparing to send reinforcements to Kalana Steppes. If these two are allowed to meet, they could pose a problem to our forces stationed in Santa Elva. We need to attack now while they are defenseless, and take them out of the battle for good."

\- Kalana Steppes, Aurelia -

\- June 6th, 2020 1145 hrs -

"Church, you ready for this?" asked Gryphus 6 when they entered the airspace alongside a secondary squadron of Aurelian ground attack fighters, A-10 Warthogs.

"I'm always ready. With each operation we accomplish we get closer and closer to our capital. This war is gonna end soon, I can feel it." replied Church confidently as the first group of enemies appeared stationed within the ruins of an old fortress, most likely from Aurelia's medieval past.

He was the first to begin the air attack on the Leasath ground forces, their meager AA and SAM units unable to lay even a fingernail on their F-22A Raptors when they would pass over to drop GBUs on their heads.

"Just wait a little longer! Reinforcements will be here before long!" ordered the commanding officer of the Leasath ground forces to try and rally his troops.

"Wait, that aircraft! Is that the Southern Cross, the guy who destroyed the Gleipnir?!"

"Damn him, Nemesis! He was waiting until we were at our most vulnerable to strike…"

Overhead a small squadron of Mi-28 Attack helicopters were having extreme difficulty in dealing with the Aurelian fighter jets plaguing them, their slow speeds and armaments inadequate against their superior jet aircraft. Gryphus 5 shot one down easily with a missile when it tried to turn and engage him, the other helicopters easily getting taken care of by Gryphus 6 and Church.

"Hold on, reinforcements are almost there!" said an officer from Sachana Air Force Base who was currently observing the attack.

By that time the Aurelian squadron of A-10s had finished off the enemy ground forces stationed in the ruined fortress and were now screaming over the desert landscape toward a gathering of dunes and tents to the north where the final remaining troops at the Kalana Steppes were sitting. The literal flying tanks would be more than a match for Leasath's weapons and Church had full faith they would be able to destroy them, so instead of assisting their allies he reformed his squadron and flew silently overhead to wait for the reinforcements he knew would be coming.

In a minute, he smiled when his suspicions were proven correct by the arrival of a fairly large air squadron of SU-37 Terminators being led by three PAK-FAs.

"Enemy air forces entering the airspace. Take them out Gryphus." ordered Eugene, the three Aurelian pilots charging towards the oncoming threat with every intention to shoot them down.

\- Centrum, Capital of Ratio -

\- June 7th, 2020 0123 hrs -

Jack stepped out of the black SUV he had driven to the outskirts of the capital and narrowed his eyes, spotting a lowly metal shack resting a few meters before him in the darkness. The passenger door opened and Ayden stepped out with his facemask already pulled up, a duffel bag over his shoulder, and his silenced Spec Ops 1911 pistol in hand.

They glanced at one another and nodded once before they approached the shack, Jack's cane hitting the sandy gravel beneath their feet with each step.

"This is the place?" asked Ayden in a low tone, Jack nodding as he opened the shack's door and walked inside.

"Indeed. Just sit tight and watch the magic happen." he whispered with a grin when Ayden closed the door and watched him silently.

Jack rested both his hands on his cane and struck its golden tip on the ground three times. Nothing happened at first, but suddenly the sound of gears turning reached Ayden's ears and with a loud metallic groan, the floor shifted and started to sink. Slowly but surely they were lowered down into a metallic elevator shaft that could go down for who knows how long, Ayden looking up and watching as a set of sliding doors closed up over top them, plunging the shaft into darkness.

"He'll most likely be expecting us. He was the one that designed this place, after all." said Jack when the elevator reached its destination and stopped at the entranceway to a dimly lit hallway.

He took the first step off and looked around with Ayden, the little light the lamps built into the walls of the hallway helping them in the least bit.

"So, you did come."

The two tensed up when the voice spoke to them through an unseen speaker, Jack suspecting there must be a camera somewhere in the hallway that would give the person who talked to them a perfect view.

"And I see you brought company. Mr. Non-Existent, I presume?" asked the voice, Ayden pulling out his phone and opening an app to try and trace the location of the voice.

Suddenly the phone's screen went black and he growled, the voice chuckling lightly. "Sorry, but that's cheating. I know of your reputation, how there's no one you can't track with that software of yours. If you really are here to kill me, why don't we make it more interesting?"

A few seconds later the hallway went dark, the darkness overcoming them once again and making it incredibly hard to see once again. Jack cursed under his breath and he tried to activate his monocle's Night Vision function, but he too discovered that the EMP wave that had caused Ayden's phone to short circuit had done the same to his monocle.

" _Dammit, he really is a smart bastard._ " he thought as he removed the device from over his right eye and tossed it to the side.

"Welcome to the Labyrinth, gentlemen." said the voice before he cackled, Jack and Ayden looking forward when they heard a door at the end of the hallway slide open, allowing entrance into the dark abyss beyond. "I wonder if you'll find me?"

\- Three Hours Later -

"God dammit, this place seems to just go on forever." snarled Ayden when they rounded another corner and came to another set of three hallways.

They had been down in this dark abyss of a maze for who knows how long, Jack guessing it to have been at least three hours since when they first arrived in the underground. And during this time they had been wondering through the endless amount of hallways and rooms that made up the Labyrinth, the brain child of their target. He and Ayden both knew that he was somewhere in here, but with their vision hampered by the darkness, they had no idea where they were at any time and if they had even been at the same place.

Along the way they had to deal with several traps that their target had set for them, ranging from collapsing floors that led to a bottomless pit, sections of hallways that would close off on either side and crush them flat, even flamethrowers. Part of Jack's coat had been singed because of a flamethrower that had popped out of the wall, which was incredibly lucky. If he had been one step closer, his entire right thigh would've been burned to a crisp.

"He was definitely preparing for this day." said Jack as they turned down the left hallway and blinding stepped forward, Ayden's hand on his shoulder tightening.

After their first bout with a collapsing floor, with Jack nearly falling in, Ayden had resolved to keep his hand on his shoulder so that if another would fall out underneath, he would be able to keep him balanced and draw him back from the ledge if necessary.

"Are we having fun, my guests?" asked the voice of their target, both Ayden and Jack growling in rage.

All of a sudden the whoosh of a sliding floor reached their ears and Ayden quickly pulled back Jack the floor beneath him gave way to a pit of steaming lava, the orangish-red glow of the molten rock lighting up their expressions. It was too long of a jump for them to try and cross to the other side, so they turned around to head back the way they came.

To their horror however, the floor behind them had also gave way and trapped them between a rock and a hard place, only in this case it was two pools of lava surrounding them with no way out.

"Well, I guess the fun's over now. Nowhere left for you to go now, gentlemen." ridiculed the voice to mock them.

"Wait a minute…" said Ayden when he looked up at the ceiling and examined it closely, the dim but more then enough illumination the lava provided allowing him to see it properly.

He rapped his knuckles against its surface and grinned when it gave off a distinct sound unlike the metallic walls of the hallway. "Jack, it's glass. The ceiling is glass."

Without hesitation he held up his pistol and fired three bullets into the glass, cracking its surface and causing several spiderweb-like impact marks to spread out over them. To his surprise, however, the glass did not break, with the bullets just dropping to the ground at his feet.

"I knew eventually you would attempt that, so I made sure that the ceiling was comprised of three layers of bulletproof glass. There really is no escape for you two." spoke the voice with a cocky laugh, Jack's lips curling up into a smile after he went silent.

"Khehe, only three layers? You mock me." he said before he handed his cane to Ayden and clenched his right fist, all of his knuckles popping simultaneously.

He smashed his hand up into the ceiling and easily broke the first layer of bulletproof glass, the shards falling to the ground around them and littering the floor, the pristine second layer now visible past the broken first one. With another strike he smashed the second and created a bigger hole, Ayden now starting to grin under his scarf.

"W-What are you doing? Stop that!" ordered the voice, but his plea fell on deaf ears as Jack threw his fist into the final glass panel and broke it, creating a hole just large enough for him to leap out through and emerge into a completely different world.

"Ayden, give me your hand." said Jack gleefully as he offered his, the hacker grasping it tightly so he could be lifted up through the hole and up onto the glass ceiling. Instead of a pitch black maze, they were now standing in a massive brightly lit expanse that gave a perfect view of the entire Labyrinth from above.

"Damn, this place is extensive." said Jack as he got a better look of the contraption they had been trapped in for so long, its entirety being comprised of four circular individual mazes built on a timetable-like structure. He could see that there were multiple points where the different sections would connect, and he guessed that every so often they would rotate and put them into an entirely different section. And the glass itself was opaque, meaning anyone inside the Labyrinth would be unable to see through it, while anyone up above would have perfect vision into the maze.

It was genius. And the man who built it all would be residing here in this other world, having a bird's eye view.

"There. He's up there." said Ayden as he pointed up to a metallic box hanging from the roof of the underground room, the only way to reach it being a series of stairs and overhanging walkways.

He handed Jack his cane and the two walked across the glass floor towards the stairs. They took their time, making their way up towards the observation room's entrance. Jack tried the handle and he found it to be open, a mistake in his book. He kicked down the metal door with ease and entered into the world of the Labyrinth's creator, the interior of the room riddled with electrical equipment and monitors linked to hidden cameras built into the Labyrinth.

The maze's creator himself was sitting calmly in a chair before the monitors, his legs crossed over and his back turned to them. Draped over a coat hangar to his right was a large white coat with a large collar and golden epaulettes. Resting over it was a naval cap, Jack remembering the clothes belonging to someone of great power.

"Well, I guess the game's over now. The King's about to be dethroned." said the man in the chair with a heavy sigh, Jack taking a few steps forward and unsheathing his cane sword.

"Indeed. I'm under orders. Ryan McMullen, you are hereby sentenced to death for attempting to defect and expose my employer's identity." said Jack as he placed the blade on the man's broad shoulders.

"However…" said the man as the veins in his neck bulged out, Jack's eyes narrowing. "I'm not one to go down without a fight. You know that as much as I do."

In an instant he brushed off the blade and swiftly turned around, his eyes blazing with unmatched fury. Jack merely grinned however as he stepped to the side, giving the man a perfect view of Ayden.

"That's unfortunate." he said when the man stared directly down the barrel of the AA-12 Automatic Shotgun he held in his hands, his empty duffle bag sitting right beside him. "Because even if you did fight, you'll die like all the rest of the criminals in this world."

The man's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before Ayden pressed his finger down on the trigger, unleashing shell after shell from the thirty two round drum magazine until it was empty. The Labyrinth's creator, with blood streaming down his chest from the multiple gunshot wounds, gasped and staggered backward into the chair he was originally sitting in. He wheezed and coughed out more blood, his eyes moving from one man to the other.

Jack stood idly by and watched with a mad gleam in his eye as Ayden dropped the shotgun and held up his silenced pistol directly at the man's forehead, a scowl painted on his face. He said nothing as he pulled the trigger and planted a single round through the man's head, finally bringing about his end.

"Good job." complimented Jack as he returned his cane sword to its sheath and approached the desk behind the now dead man, pressing a few keys and wiping the information he had on a computer resting on it. "Now I won't have to worry about the information this guy held about my employers getting out."

Just to make sure, he fried the CPU as well and destroyed the monitor. "But I have to ask, why did you help me with this? It's kind of outside your usual line of work."

Ayden sighed as he retrieved the shotgun and pulled down his scarf, revealing to his friend the heavy scowl he wore.

"My current priority is to get rid of as many criminals as possible and make the world a better place. However, when the time comes, for all of your sins..." he said before he aimed his pistol straight at Jack's head, much to the surprise of his friend. "I'm going to have to punish you and the people you work for."

Jack blinked a few times before Ayden lowered the pistol and tossed it into his duffle bag alongside his shotgun, throwing the strap over his shoulder and walking towards the doorway.

"Even though we're friends, I will not hesitate to put a bullet through your head Jack." he said over his shoulder before he looked back and grinned slightly. "See you around. And by the way, I was never here."

With that, Ayden left the observation room, leaving Jack with a smile on his face. " _He really is a man of honor. If he were in his own video game, I have no doubt he'd be the anti-hero. I'm glad to have him as a friend. And if we do come to quarrel, well, the fight will sure be interesting._ "

He turned his attention back to the dead man resting in the chair and placed a hand on his shoulder, patting it a few times and sighing deeply. He grabbed the large white coat and hat that belonged to him and grasped onto them tightly as he turned his back and moved towards the doorway.

" _I'm sorry it had to end like this for you. Your sacrifice will not be in vain._ "


	19. Prelude to Liberation

A/N By the way, the character Ayden is a reference and almost exact copy of the character Aiden Pearce from the game Watch Dogs by Ubisoft. All credit for his character go to them by the way. With that aside, the majority of that last chapter was mainly focused on delving somewhat into the life of Jack the Ripper, and it seems that the person who he killed was apart of whoever Jack was hired by. And even though they're friends, Ayden wouldn't hesitate to murder Jack in cold blood. Seems legit.

Oh how I just love making the plot thicken so much. I can't wait to expand upon this all happening in the background. But, that will have to wait. I still have to finish this story, and boy will it end with a bang.

Chapter 18 - Prelude to Liberation

 _Pursuing Freedom_

In the two months that followed, the Southern Cross and the Gryphus Squadron led the Aurelian armed forces back through their land and retook it back from the invaders, Leasath's military unable to stand up to them without the assistance of the Gleipnir Flying Fortress. Thanks to the Southern Cross, Sachana Air Force Base was once again under Aurelian control and was established as a major stepping stone on their way to the capital.

Inch by inch, Aurelia was liberated from Leasath, with another major victory coming when Monte Breeze was recaptured by Aurelian forces after the Gryphus Squadron had destroyed enemy transports attempting to leave the industrial port.

Soon afterwards, the famous squadron were sent back to Mount Nevera to destroy the Nevera Jammer, the very last obstacle standing in their way from taking back Griswall and finally expunging Lesath from their country. Even with the help of an advanced AA defense network built into the mountains around the weather station-converted jammer, they were unable to prevent the destruction of the Nevera Jammer and allow a perfect view of Aurelia's capital. The board was now set, the pawns in place. It was time.

The prelude was now over, the main event was about to begin. With the Southern Cross shining brightly overhead, the armed forces of the Aurelian Military pressed on towards Griswall from land, air and sea.

The end was just over the horizon...but, not in the way anyone would expect.


	20. Gaiuss Tower

A/N yeah, to be honest, the reason why I didn't write the chapters pertaining to the recapturing of Sachana Air Force Base, the destruction of the Nevera Jammer, etc and such was because I was lazy and didn't feel like it. My apologies guys. But, of course I wouldn't miss out on the Liberation of Griswall. Leave a fav and review.

Chapter 19 - Gaiuss Tower

 _City of Light_

\- Sachana Air Force Base, Aurelia -

\- August 3rd, 2020 1678 hrs -

Church was ecstatic just like the rest of Aurelians stationed at the air base. They were finally going to retake Griswall, the capital they were forced to leave behind at the very beginning of this war. As he walked into the briefing room with his wingmen, he took a moment to think back to Falco 1 and silently say, " _We've made it, my friend. You should be here with us._ "

He took his seat first, the rest of the Aurelian pilots involved in the upcoming operation following suite until the entire briefing room was filled. Eugene cleared his throat when the 3D briefing system came to life before him and he immediately rendered it to an aerial view of their country's capital.

"Our mission is the liberation of Griswall. In our absence, Leasath has taken extensive measures to turn it into a modern fortress. It seems that before our attack on Monte Breeze the military was able to finish manufacturing the Meson Beam Stabilizing Regulators required for the hypothetical Meson Beam Defense and transported them to Griswall without our knowledge. Using these, they were able to bring to life this idea and equip several Meson Cannon units to the Atmos Ring." he said as images of the cannons themselves popped up in the air around the 3D rendering of the area surrounding Gaiuss Tower.

"These cannons, with the MBSRs now installed, will be an extreme threat to both air and ground forces, so while they remain active, we cannot risk our ground forces getting close. So until they are destroyed, our ground forces will remain out of their effective range while you, our air force, will attack these cannons. Once the Meson Cannons are taken care of, your job will be to protect our ground forces as they pierce through the Atmos Ring and attack the enemy positions stationed around Gaiuss Tower."

"How many Meson Cannons are there?" asked Gryphus 5, Eugene pressing a button on the remote in his hand to highlight their positions on the Atmos Ring.

"There are ten in total. Now, once enemy ground forces are taken care of, all our allies has to do is enter Gaiuss Tower and take control of the enemy central command and free the city. This will be a tough battle. Leasath's army has been preparing for this over the past two months. Let us take back our capital and finally bring an end to this war!"

They all cheered and raised their fists up into the air, Church being the one to lead them out of the room and to the runway where their planes waited for action. A few minutes passed and they were all in the air with Church and the Gryphus Squadron out in front of the combined aerial force. This was the culmination of their efforts ever since the war against Leasath began.

" _Griswall, we're on our way!_ "

\- Gaiuss Tower, Griswall, Aurelia -

\- 1800 hrs -

Navarro finished packing away all of his important documents and grabbed his briefcase, Jack standing close by with a grin on his face. He was going to act as one of the general's bodyguards while he was being transported to Leasath's capital.

"Ready to go, Navarro?" he asked, the Leasath general nodding once before he hid the terror in his heart and turned towards the assassin.

"Yes. Let us be off."

\- One Hour Later -

Church squinted through the clouds hovering in the sky and smiled when he saw the twinkling lights of the capital up ahead. This was it.

"I can make them out now. The Atmos Ring and Gaiuss Tower. It's been so long…"

"It makes me sick. Just look at them, acting like they own the damn place."

"Stay sharp everyone. It may be our capital, but those bastards turned it into an extremely powerful modern fortress. Lower your guard for just a second, and the Meson Cannons will end you." said Church with a low tone as he readied himself for the coming battle, the anticipation starting to make his blood boil and rage.

He couldn't help but feel excited about the thought of going against the Meson Cannons and instantly thought back to the Excalibur Chemical Laser Tower Cipher had to destroy. " _Now it's my turn to shine. Sorry Talisman, but that Ace of Aces title is mine!_ "

"Remember, you must destroy the Meson Cannons before our forces can advance. Good luck everyone!" informed Eugene one last time before they crossed over into enemy territory and had a clear view of the capital, the brightly shining Gaiuss Tower seemingly welcoming them back.

It was quiet, the Atmos Ring surrounding the tower and the portion of the city within devoid of any enemy activity. All of a sudden a bright red beam of pure, concentrated energy shot past them and completely vaporized one of their jets in an instant, the Meson Cannon's true power revealing itself.

"The Atmos Ring is active! I repeat, the Atmos Ring has been activated!" informed one of the Aurelian pilots as they all diverged when a volley of beams from the now online Meson Cannons shot past them.

"Don't stay in one place for too long, or they'll gun you down!" shouted Church when several squadrons of Leasath fighters appeared in the air above Gaiuss Tower and charged towards them at full speed.

"Church, we'll handle the fighters, you take out those cannons!" said Gryphus 6 as she and Gryphus 5 engaged the first SU-37 that reached them and quickly took it out of the fight.

He smiled for a fraction of a second before he dove down to almost street level, the Atmos Ring's massive walls towering before him with the Meson Cannons resting atop the ten towers built into the wall. One of the dangerous red beams zoomed past him, barely missing him, and in that instant he realized the one fatal flaw the Meson Cannon defenses held. When he was close enough to the wall and low to the ground, they were unable to hit him.

He took this new information and flew straight at the Atmos Ring, spotting one of the massive gate openings leading into the interior and flew through it, completely avoiding the threat the cannons posed.

"There he is, Nemesis!"

"Is he for real?! Does he have any idea of the threat these weapons pose?" sputtered a Leasath soldier when the Aurelian ace attacked the Atmos Ring and destroyed the AA guns stationed around one of the Meson Cannons.

He ducked away and came in from another angle before the cannon could fire at him, and with just a pair of missiles he effectively destroyed the Meson Cannon and reduced the threat level the Atmos Ring posed to his allies.

"He's too fast! Tracking can't keep up with him!"

" _Next!_ " thought Church with a grin as he dove down towards the streets to negate the possibility of being hit by the Meson Cannon, and when he finally approached his target he shot upward like a dolphin breaching the ocean's surface and unleashed hell upon the enemy.

"Where the hell is our air force?! Can't they take care of a few Aurelian fighters?!" exclaimed a Leasath officer angrily from within Gaiuss Tower as the battle progressively got worse for them.

When two more of the Meson Cannons were destroyed and their air power still preoccupied with the other Aurelian forces, he gave the order for two of the remaining six cannons to switch from sustained beams to rapid-fire bursts. Church didn't expect the sudden change in offensive capabilities from the weapons and nearly got fried by one of the powerful energy blasts, but he managed to avoid it at the last second.

" _Damn, they can fire in small intervals too? This just made things a whole lot more interesting._ "

\- Alendai, Leasath -

\- Same Time -

Jack opened the door for Navarro and the two walked into the general's office within the city's capital building, a small fortress of its own that also offered an underground bunker built beneath the building in case of an enemy attack upon the city.

Navarro approached his desk and set down the metal briefcase he had handcuffed to his wrist, procuring a key to unlock the handcuffs afterwards. He opened the briefcase and pressed a few buttons on the keyboard inside to turn on the laptop built into the container's frame and sat down in his chair, sighing deeply. Jack took a seat in one of two chairs resting before the desk and crossed his legs over, his one visible eye studying the Leasath general.

"So what's your next move?" he asked, Navarro leaning forward and tapping a few commands into the laptop with great speed.

"While on the way here I received word from the scientists and engineers back at Archelon that they've successfully incorporated the battle data taken from the Gleipnir into our newest product and that it's now ready for testing." he stated blankly as he tapped a final command into the laptop and smiled evilly, Jack raising an eyebrow in intrigue.

"Oh? Please, indulge me."

Navarro turned the briefcase around so that Jack could look at the laptop screen and examine what the general had pulled up. It was the tactical readout data and blueprints for the certain product he had talked about, the one that would incorporate technologies from the Gleipnir Flying Fortress.

"Very nice." he said after leaning back in his chair from looking at the screen, Navarro turning it back around and picking up the phone on his desk. "Who will be flying them?"

"I have just the squadron in mind. They're our country's finest pilots, the best of the best." replied Navarro as he checked to make sure he had a secure connection first before he dialed a number on the phone.

"Yes sir?"

"Call them in, I have a proposition I would like to offer them." he said, the person on the other end saying nothing more as he ended the call.

"Will they be able to stand up to the Southern Cross?" asked Jack with a smirk, Navarro narrowing his eyes at the assassin and his doubt.

"With these new aircraft at their full disposal...the Southern Cross will be annihilated."

\- Gaiuss Tower, Griswall -

"One Meson Cannon remaining! Our ground forces are now beginning their advance onto the capital! It's almost over!" informed Eugene estatically after Church destroyed another of the Meson Cannons, reducing their numbers down to a single one left.

The Leasath forces had definitely put up a fight, he'd give them that, but nothing could stand in their way after they had destroyed the Gleipnir Flying Fortress. Griswall was their capital, and Leasath was sure as hell not going to stop them from taking it back.

"Even with the Meson Cannons, we couldn't stop him…"

"He really is the Nemesis, there's nothing we could've done to stop him."

" _They've given up. This battle is already over._ " thought Church victoriously as he landed the final blow on the Atmos Ring and destroyed the last Meson Cannon, removing the threat it posed to their ground forces and opening the gate for the ground attack.

Without the support of their allies operating the cannons and their fighters in the air, Leasath's forces surrounding Gaiuss Tower fell in just a couple of minutes, and with smiles on everyone's faces the Leasath flag waving in the night sky at the tower's peak was lowered and tossed aside, the Aurelian flag replacing it and marking the return of the city to its proper owners.

"It's official, Griswall is ours once again! We've taken back our capital!" announced Eugene once he spotted the Aurelian flag waving victoriously in the wind.

"We've finally done it. After so long, our city is ours again!"

"To our guys in the sky, especially you Southern Cross, we thank you for assistance! We couldn't have done this without you!" said one of the soldiers down below out of appreciation for their aces.

Church couldn't help but smile as he passed over Gaiuss Tower and watched as the brilliant flashing lights that would always play across its luminescent surface began to fill up the sky once more.

"Guys, our job is done here, there's nothing left for us to do. Let's head back."

-Mission accomplished. Finally, after all of our struggles, we've managed to recapture our capital of Griswall and totally expunge all Leasath forces out of Aurelia. However, celebration aside, this war won't come to an end until the man responsible is captured and put on trial. Commander-in-Chief Dicator Diego Gaspar Navarro was spotted leaving the capital of Leasath for Sentry Island, so we can only assume that from there he will attempt to continue the war. Take a rest, you've earned it, and afterwards we will figure out what to do with him. Dismissed.

\- Sentry Island, Leasath -

"Griswall has officially fallen to Aurelian forces, sir." reported a Leasath officer to the general within his office, Navarro nodding slowly as he dismissed the man.

Once the door closed and he was left alone inside, he cupped his face in his hands and shuddered slightly. Terror coursed through his veins again once memories of that night back in the ballroom where Jack had outlined the consequences for failing before another knock came from the hallway outside.

"Enter." he stated after regaining his composure, the knob turning and the door opening inward to reveal Jack was the one who had knocked.

"Someone special wants to meet with you." he said with a devious grin before he stepped aside.

Upon laying eyes on the individual who walked into the office behind Jack, all of the color in the general's skin drained away, leaving back a hollow shell of a man with horror overtaking every fiber of his very being. Said person was the *last person he wanted to see right now, especially with how the war had been progressing.

"Greetings, friend. Let's get down to business, shall we?"


	21. Judgment

A/N here we are ladies and gentlemen, we are entering the final chapters territory of this fanfiction. I'm getting excited at the idea that I'm this close to Ace Combat - Oblivion, the finale for this series. Don't worry, the inspiration for this story has not died out yet, and I'll be sure to end it on a good note so that it'll lead right into Oblivion. Leave a fav and review

Chapter 20 - Judgement

 _Vicious Demons_

At long last, the Aurelian capital of Griswall was liberated. Soon afterwards, reports of various Aurelian victories across the rest of the continent came pouring in. The Southern Cross' actions over the capital had spurred the surviving Aurelian troops for the final push to rid their country of the invaders.

It was discovered that the Commander-in-Chief of Leasath forces, Dictator Diego Gaspar Navarro had retreated before the battle to retake Griswall had even begun, and his current whereabouts remain unknown to special forces. What they discovered in his former office in Gaiuss Tower came as a huge to surprise to the Aurelian military.

The misappropriated financial and material resources were on a scale much greater than the flying fortress alone could account for. Just what had the dictator been doing in the shadows of war?

\- Sachana Air Force Base, Aurelia -

\- August 12th, 2020 0800 hrs -

"Dammit! That's the third squadron now that's gone missing." growled Gryphus 5 after they heard the news from some of the other Aurelian pilots stationed with them back at Sachana.

"It can't be another Gleipnir, that's for sure. The evidence clearly goes against that prospect." said Gryphus 6 to the group, a consecutive round of murmurs and head nods going around from one pilot to another.

Church tapped his foot against the ground a few times before he leaned forward in his chair and leveled his gaze with all of them, an expression devoid of all emotion staring at them. "I may have an idea."

"What are you thinking Church?"

The ace crossed his arms over and closed his eyes as he began his thought process and put it into words for them, "Of course it wouldn't be another Gleipnir, we would've been able to figure it out if it was one by now. The only logical conclusion is that Leasath's just revealed another trump card, their Ace Squadron."

"Ace? Wasn't that the Chimera Squadron that you guys shot down after destroying the Gandr?" asked one of the other pilots, Church nodding solemnly.

"They were indeed an ace squadron, but not Leasath's best. I did some digging, and the Chimera Squadron was Leasath's second best group of fighter pilots. There was another squadron that acted on a more covert scale and didn't participate along the front lines that often. You could say Chimera were the poster boys of the Leasath armed forces, while the real killers were this other ace squadron." he explained.

"Do you have any idea as to who they are?" asked Gryphus 5, Church shaking his head. "Well, at least we know they exist. What should we do if we encounter them?"

"If we do fight them, which I highly suspect we will, we can't get lazy with our maneuvers. These aces are not just veterans, they're experienced killers that won't hesitate to shoot you down."

\- Alendai Air Force Base,Alendai, Leasath -

\- Same Time -

A group of four individuals dressed all black flight suits with red markings on their shoulders to signify their ranks approached the hangar that held their aircraft, the grounds crew being sure to keep their distance. Even among the Leasath Armed Forces, the squadron were infamous for their brutal and overwhelming tactics that inspired dread and fear among their enemies. They were beyond a force to be reckoned with, they were considered demons.

"Get in your fighters and launch immediately. You already know where to go." ordered the man standing in front of the group, obviously the squadron leader.

The three other pilots nodded their heads before they slipped on their flight helmets, their faces and eyes devoid of any remorse for their actions becoming hidden behind opaque visors tinted green.

Their planes were something uncommonly seen on the battlefield, it's last visible use dating back to 2010 when it was used by the two Belkan Aggressor Squadrons Grabacr and Ofnir. The aircraft themselves were also painted pitch black with a single red and green wingtip, the canopy glass tinted a brass color.

Once the squadron leader plopped down into the flight seat of his jet, he closed the canopy with the flick of a switch and smirked, thinking, " _I hope we get to meet you soon Nemesis. It's past time you received judgment for your sins._ "

\- Danern Islands, Leasath -

\- 1039 hrs -

Eugene piloting his E-767 flew high over the ocean with two Aurelian F-117 Nighthawk stealth bombers directly beneath him, their presence currently unknown to any Leasath forces in the area, if there were any at all.

"This is Otus 1 to AWACS. Commencing reconnaissance of the area for any signs of the enemy." reported the flight lead as they flew closer and closer to sentry island, the morning haz still lingering over the island due to its tropical climate.

When they passed through a cloud, however, their vision became unhindered and they had a perfect view to what seemed like a modern military base built into the island, complete with a runway heading into the interior and several towers and buildings riddled with antennas.

"Hey, there's some kind of strange complex here. You getting all of this AWACS?" asked Otus 2, Eugene connecting himself to the life feed the cameras they carried.

"I can see everything. This might be what we've been looking for. Continue your recon."

"Roger that AWACS." replied Otus 1 as they entered a long sweeping angle around the island, getting as much video feed as they could before they were discovered.

Unfortunately for them, they already were.

Otus 2 happened to glance down at his radar and did a double take when he thought he saw something pop up, but in the split second he had seen it, the signature instantly vanished again.

"Otus 2 to Otus 1, did you just see something on radar?" he asked, the flight lead looking at his radar and seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

"Otus 2, negative. I don't see anything."

"Huh, I must be seeing things."

They continued their flight around the island, totally unaware of the fact that flying through the air behind them was an object that seemed to bend the light and clouds around it ever-so slightly, making it appear virtually invisible to the untrained eye. Another unknown object appeared beside it and in total silence, they lined themselves up for a perfect shot on the rears of the unsuspecting pilots and took their shots.

"Wha-?! Missile alerts?! Where the h-!" shouted Otus 1 before a missile from seemingly out of nowhere struck his F-117 in the fuselage, the stealth bomber bursting into flames.

At the same exact time another missile hit Otus 2 and killed him on the spot, two balls of fire replacing them in the sky while Eugene was left totally dumbfounded as to what had just occurred. Instead of shouting out, however, he silently made a hasty retreat from the airspace and sped as fast as he could back to Sachana Air Force Base with the intent to share this new information.

" _Dammit, this is not good. This is not good at all!_ "

\- Sachana Air Force Base, Aurelia -

\- Two Hours Later -

"Oh hey, Eugene is back." said Church when he spotted their AWACS in the sky heading for the base, Gryphus 5 and 6 perking up slightly.

He squinted his eyes and looked closer, and in doing so he was struck with an odd sensation of dread when he saw that the two F-117s of Otus Squadron that he knew had left with Eugene were nonexistent.

When the large aircraft touched down on the runway and came to a complete stop, Church ran out over the tarmac to the side of the E-767 and waited for Eugene to show himself from the cockpit. What he got was a man obviously spooked by something with sweat droplets on his forehead and a look of terror in his eyes.

"Eugene, what happened? Where's Otus Squadron?" asked Gryphus 6 when she noticed how bad of a state he was in.

"Meet me in the briefing room, *now." he ordered before he turned and walked briskly towards the base's main buildings, Church glancing back at his wingmen with a concerned expression before he followed after their AWACS.

After they had all met in the briefing room, Eugene took out a flash drive he had stowed away in his pocket and plugged it into the 3D projector, the briefing system coming to life and uploading the data stored on the drive.

"What's going on Eugene?" asked Church, the man turning to face them with a dead serious look that made him shiver somewhat.

"Otus Squadron's been wiped out."

"What?!" exclaimed Gryphus 5 in total disbelief. "By who?"

"That's the thing. I don't know. In one instant they were there, and in the next they were gone. Poof. Destroyed by missiles from thin air." stated Eugene as he brought up the video feed and audio recordings of the mission he received and pressed play, the pilots growing silent.

" _Otus 2 to Otus 1, did you just see something on radar?_ " Church heard Otus 2 ask.

He wasn't put off by it at first, since on recon missions into enemy territory can make someone a little jumpy. But he kept his doubts under wraps and continued to listen.

" _Otus 2, negative. I don't see anything._ "

" _Huh, I must be seeing things._ "

A moment of silence passed by before the ever-obvious sound of missile alert sirens bellowed out from the speakers playing the recording, followed by the voice of Otus 1 shouting about them before in an instant all of it was cut off with an explosion and the feed turned to static. In that second the feeling in the pit of Church's stomach grew larger, especially with what Eugene said next.

"After comparing what occurred here with previous recordings of attacks made by the Gleipnir, I came to only one conclusion. Leasath has developed a new type of attack aircraft, and it can utilize the same type of cloaking technology as the Gleipnir."

Gryphus 5 and 6 were left totally dumbfounded, Church leaning back in his chair and running a hand through his hair as he cursed under his breath. " _Damn, another invisible enemy to deal with? And now it's a jet fighter too?!_ "

"After going through all Leasath military records, I couldn't come up with any information on this new fighter, which doesn't help us at all concerning its abilities. What I do know is that before Otus Squadron was destroyed, they discovered a previously unknown facility built into Sentry Island, and from that we can assume the unknown fighter launched from there. On my way here I also contacted intelligence services and I discovered that there also appears to be a factory on the island, so there is a very high possibility that there are more of this fighter."

"Shit, things just went from bad to worse…" muttered Gryphus 5 as he shook his head.

"It gets even better." said Eugene grimly as he pulled up a satellite image of the Danern Islands and zoomed in on a zone of water close to the first island, a massive fleet of Leasath naval vessels appearing in the air.

"Reinforcements from the capital have been discovered heading for Sentry Island to bolster its defenses in the event of an attack, both on sea and air. If we are to allow the fleet through, they will most definitely pose an immeasurable threat to our attack plans. Before we can commence any operations in the Danern Straits, we must destroy this fleet. We can save worrying about the unknown fighter for later."

\- Danern Straits, Leasath -

\- August 12th, 2020 1476 hrs -

Church cleared his throat and concentrated when he and the rest of Gryphus squadron passed over the boundary line between Aurelia and Leasath, their target resting on the waves just beyond it. Another squadron of F-35Cs had been sent with them to bolster their naval attack power, which would be needed considering the enemy fleet was over twenty ships strong with several AEGIS cruisers present within it.

"Multiple enemy ships straight ahead. You'll be coming up on them shortly." informed Eugene when the Leasath fleet and their accompanying air forces appeared on their HUDs.

"Don't leave a single ship floating. Sink them all!" shouted Church to commence the engagement as he dove down from above, a pair of missiles from his Raptor striking the deck of a Leasath frigate and engulfing it in flames.

"Enemy fighters attacking from the stern! It's the Aurelians and Nemesis!"

"Forget waiting for Archelon Fortress, we'll decide this here and now!" growled a Leasath pilot before he and the rest of the enemy air forces turned around and flew straight for the oncoming Aurelian assault.

The four F-35Cs dove down towards the water and locked on to the nearest ships, their bellies opening up and releasing several LASMs that barely skimmed over the water's surface and struck their targets right at the waterline, plumes of fire and water shooting upward after impact. Soon after one of the AEGIS cruisers was sunk by Church as he passed by overhead whilst being tailed by three enemy aircraft.

"Can I get some help here?" he asked after he ducked to the side and avoided the missiles from his pursuers, Gryphus 6 quickly appearing behind them and scaring them off with her Raptor's cannon.

"Thanks. Now these bastards are gonna get it!"

In an instant he turned the tables on the Leasath pilots and shredded them apart with the help of his wingmen, their SU-37s unable to keep up and or get away from their F-22As. The battle was turning toward their favor as more and more of their fleet was sunk by their allies while the fleet's aerial escorts were shot down one by one.

If Leasath didn't act soon, their reinforcements wouldn't even get close to Sentry Island. And act they did by calling out their remaining trump card, the very same one that caused the disappearance of three fully operational Aurelian fighter squadrons.

Church, in the midst of battle, checked his radar to get another mental image of where their enemies were and he spotted another group farther away from the rest heading straight for them at a very quick pace. He instantly got a bad feeling at how tightly knit the group of enemies were, and just based off of that fact alone he could guess immediately what they were.

"Heads up, we've got another group of enemies coming from far off!"

Gryphus 5 and 6 turned to face towards the sun and were instantly blinded, the oncoming enemy force using its position to their advantage. There were only four of them too, from what Church could tell, so it was going to be an even fight, more or less.

With the sun to their backs, the four fighters entered the battlefield and completely changed the entire tone of the Leasath forces, the fighters Gryphus were engaging just moments before immediately withdrawing without a word. It was as if a demonic presence had just appeared and they were terrified of getting in its way.

"So, I'm assuming _you're_ Nemesis?" asked the enemy flight lead, Church growling as he watched the pitch black fighters, S-32s, move out of the sun and begin to circle them like vultures.

"Who's asking?" replied Church, the enemy flight lead chuckling softly.

"We are the Alect Squadron, Leasath's ace squadron. And to be honest, I've heard just about enough of your tall tales for one lifetime." he stated darkly before the squadron turned on a dime and sped right for him, dead set on shooting him down. "Your judgment is at hand, Southern Cross. Time to atone for your sins!"

In an instant the elite Alect Squadron were right on top of them, two of their members diving down below and ruthlessly attacking the F-35Cs while the remaining two, including the flight lead, engaged Church, Gryphus 5 and 6 in a dogfight. Their S-32s proved be more than a match for their Raptors and the Aurelians were finding it difficult to keep up with them.

" _Damn, no wonder these guys are the best._ " thought Church after he had to avoid the third missile that had been fired at him in a span of at least thirty seconds.

He glanced back down at the radar and sore when he saw that their allies flying the F-35Cs had been shot down by the two Alect pilots who went down. It was just him and his wingman now against Leasath's deadliest fighter squadron.

"I can smell your fear!" exclaimed Alect 1 viciously when the full force of Alect Squadron geared down on Church and his wingman, the Aurelians just barely managing to stay alive.

"I can't keep avoiding these missiles for much longer!" grunted Gryphus 5 when he felt his plane shake vigorously after several bullets from from behind shot through his fuselage.

"One of them is trailing smoke." spoke one of the Alect pilots, Alect 1 laughing before he gave out his next order with no hesitation whatsoever..

"Exterminate him."

"No!" shouted Church when three out of the four Alect pilots gathered behind his wounded wingman and relentlessly pursued him, each missile they fired growing ever closer to a direct hit.

"Stay alive Gryphus 5, stay alive!" shouted Gryphus 6.

"Church, I can't shake them, they're too fast!" he yelled out before an Alect fighter locked into him and fired, the missile striking his Raptor and causing it to split into two halves.

Church at first was relieved that the cockpit had survived the plane's destruction, but in a split second his expression changed to horror when a second missile appeared that engulfed the cockpit in fire. The parachute hadn't even deployed yet before the Alect Squadron had brutally killed Gryphus 5.

"Gryphus 5 is down! Fuck!" snarled Gryphus 6 as she watched the Alect Squadron reform and begin to circle them once again.

Church couldn't pull his eyes away from the burning wreckage that used to contain his friend and wingman, a living soul. In an instant his life had been snuffed out by the demons known as Alect Squadron standing before them. He felt like they weren't fighting human beings anymore, these things were nothing close to being human.

"Come on, Nemesis. Is that all you can offer? Can you really call yourself an Ace?!" demanded Alect 1, Church's heart skipping a beat when something snapped inside.

When he didn't respond, Alect 1 merely shrugged before he and his squadron split apart again to attack the two remaining Aurelian pilots from all sides. "If you can't compete with real aces, then you should just die like all the other trash we've faced!"

They unleashed their full wrath of Church and Gryphus 6, their maneuvers unable to shake off the enemy pilots from their sixes while just barely allowing them to survive getting hit with a missile. Church bit his tongue when his Raptor took several bullets in the right wing, his confidence slowly fading with each passing second.

He was unable to focus, his mind still replaying the death of Gryphus 5 in his head. When his heart stopped believing, one of the demons they were up against snuck up behind him and grinned evilly when the lock-on marker glowed green.

"Church, on your six!"

The cry fell on deaf ears when Church looked over his shoulder and his life flashes before his eyes, the missile hitting his Raptor dead square in the fuselage and causing it to erupt in flames. He was thrown to side along with the cockpit as smoke stung his eyes and surrounded him, the flaming remains of his jet shooting out in all directions.

"CHURCH!"


	22. Fire Storm

A/N We're nearing the end people, let's start it off with a bang. So yeah, Alect Squadron are a bunch of badasses. They're Leasath's top squadron for a reason. In reference to this chapter I was undecided on to whether include the High-Powered Microwave (HPM) on Fenrir or not considering what it is, but then I had a great idea on what to do and it will be shown somewhat in this chapter and later on in the story. I think you guys will find it enjoyable. Leave a fav and review.

Chapter 21 - Fire Storm

 _Wolf's Grotto_

The ringing noise was endless and just wouldn't go away. Everything was white. The world was totally white, and the boundary between what was real and unreal was blurred.

Church had no idea if he was alive or dead, the only thing he remembered was the missile hitting his plane, the fire, the smoke, and the scream of his wingmen filling up his ears before his radio cut off.

There were voices. They seemed distant, far off. He couldn't understand what they were saying either, so he had no idea if they were male, female or if they were even real at all. Suddenly the ringing noise faded away and he could start to hear clearly, the far-away voices becoming more audible and understandable.

" _Look, he's moving. I think he might be waking up!_ "

The whiteness began to disappear and he began to feel his body once again. When the pain made itself known he instantly knew that he was alive.

"Holy...fuck…" he groaned before he sucked in a breath, his entire body screaming at him every time he moved even a muscle.

When his vision finally returned he looked around and saw he was in a hospital bed, and standing at the foot of the bed was Eugene and Gryphus 6. She had a concerned look on her face, and he couldn't help but feel guilty because of it. He looked down at his arms and noticed they were bandaged from fingers all the way to his elbows and that they were the main source of the agonizing pain.

"How you feeling Church?" asked Eugene as he pushed himself up against his pillow and let out a shaky breath as he set down his arms on the sheets.

"Like I just got run over by a fucking truck." he swore, Gryphus 6 snickering while Eugene rolled his eyes and walked over to his left side.

"You had a pretty nasty crash. Thankfully we were able to pick you up because after you went down, the Alect Squadron and the surviving Leasath naval vessels left the area. Gryphus 6 here kept an eye on you while we organized a rescue ship." he said as he lightly pat Church on the shoulder.

The mentioning of him crashing sparked another hazy memory and he looked at him dead square in the eyes, asking, "And Gryphus 5...he…"

"Yes, he's dead. We were unable to recover his body because it had already sunk with his plane's wreckage. I-I'm sorry Church." apologized Eugene, Church looking away from him and back down at his bandaged arms.

He pushed aside the pain and clenched his fingers as tightly as he could, his anger swelling up inside of him. Alect Squadron had killed him. They brutally killed him even though he had already been shot down.

Eugene could tell that he needed some time and he said nothing as he turned around and left the room, Gryphus 6 remaining seated at the foot of his bed with her hands in her lap. Church remembered that she was still there and painfully looked up at her, their eyes meeting and sharing their sorrow for their fallen comrade.

"I'm glad that you're feeling a little better, Church." she said with a half-hearted smile, Church nodding once and sighing.

"Yeah, but he should still be here. Actually, the rest of our squadron should. Falco 1 too. They shouldn't have died when they did, they should see be here with all of us, and I feel guilty because of it. I feel like I didn't try hard enough to protect them." said Church, Gryphus 6 wiping a single tear from her eye before she got up from her chair and moved herself over to where Eugene had been standing before.

"I feel the same way, but we can't let their sacrifices be in vain. The two of us being alive is proof enough that they're still looking out for us. We have to finish this war, and I know that you're capable of doing that Church."

He looked up at her and noticed for the first time that she had always been the one member of Gryphus Squadron he had always enjoyed being around, and then immediately afterwards he realized that he hadn't even taken the time to learn her name. Not once did he ask.

Before he could, however, she placed her hand on top of his, her gentle touch bringing a small soothing sensation to Church. It all happened at once. They were looking at each other in the eyes before she leaned down, her eyes closed.

He felt her lips brush up against his and he felt something bloom inside of him like a flower during the first days of spring. They remained connected for a few more moments before she withdrew, her cheeks becoming a slight shade of red as she held her hands behind the back and lowered her gaze as if she had just done something wrong.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just…"

"No." said Church, the pain in his arms becoming a trivial thought as he raised up his left arm and reached over to grab hers. "It's fine, you don't have to apologize."

He smiled and she smiled back, their hands remaining interlocked for a couple of seconds before he let go and returned his arm to his side.

"You get some rest now, Church. We still have a war to end." she said with a wink as she made her back towards the door.

"Wait!" exclaimed Church, Gryphus 6 whirling back around and looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "I never learned what your name was."

She blushed again and twirled a piece of her hair around her index finger before saying, "It's Aubrey, like the city."

With that she left the room, Church watching her go and chuckling to himself.

" _Aubrey, huh? That's a wonderful name._ "

\- Cobalt Cave, Danern Islands -

\- August 17th, 2020 0856 hrs -

"3, 2, 1, fire HPMB!"

The Leasath scientist in charge of firing the weapon nodded before he pushed forward three levers and looked up through a wall of glass separating him and the other researchers from a massive, steel plate reinforced room occupied by a strange looking device reminiscent of a cannon aimed directly at a lone SU-27 Flanker situated at the other end.

The strange looking cannon made several beeping noises as it charged up, the lights at the end of the barrel becoming brighter and brighter before a beam consisting of swirling oranges and reds lanced out and struck the SU-27 directly in the nose. The beam spread out over the fighter jet, causing no visible damage until it reached the engines and in a matter of seconds the metal began to turn red as it quickly heated up.

A few more seconds passed and smoke started to emerge from the engines, the metal now exceptionally hot before all of a sudden the fuel contained inside the jet ignited and caused a devastating explosion to rupture the plane and split it in half.

A crew of several man draped in fire protection suits rushed out into the room wielding fire extinguishers and heavy water hoses to begin putting out the flames when the beam faded away and the weapon began to cool down, the scientists within the glass observation room clapping at the successful test firing.

"Contact the General. The weapon is ready to be sent to Archelon."

\- Sachana Air Force Base, Aurelia -

\- August 17th, 2020 1026 hrs -

Church, now fully healed from the minor injuries he sustained from the crash thanks to his cells, entered the briefing room with Aubrey at his side and sat down in the front row facing Eugene. He coughed a few times to clear his throat before he activated the 3D briefing system and clasped his hands behind his back.

"We have learned that Leasath is using Cobalt Cave, locating within the Danern Islands, to secretly conduct tests on a new weapon. Intelligence states that the weapon is planned to be mounted on the unknown aircraft we encountered before, which now has a name. It is known as "Fenrir", and currently with the specs that we were able to get it's the most technologically advanced fighter aircraft ever designed as of now."

" _Shit._ " thought Church as the island Cobalt Cave was located in appeared in the air, several targets appearing on the 3D rendering.

"Unfortunately it appears Leasath caught wind of our movements and they're moving to transport the new weapon to the military base the late Otus Squadron spotted on one of the other islands. We don't exactly know much about this weapon but we need to put an end to its development ASAP." stated Eugene as he marked out several transport vessels with his finger.

"Destroying the transport freighters they'll be using to move them won't suffice. You must also destroy all warehouses and equipment on the island itself to ensure that its development is totally halted. We've been warned that there are highly dangerous and explosive chemicals located in the hangars, so after you fire a missile into the opening get away as fast as you can so you won't be caught in the ensuing explosion. We've also arranged for allied amphibious units to be deployed into Cobalt Cave to gather any intel they can on the weapon and Fenrir. If we attain those it will greatly assist our efforts in assaulting the enemy's base. Dismissed."

A few minutes later Church and Aubrey were standing before their two fighter jets, both of them new and sparkling clean F-22As since Church's had been destroyed in the fight with Alect Squadron while Aubrey's had sustained some internal damage as a result of gunfire.

Finally done with observing their aircraft they turned and faced one another, Church wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly. It was just them now. From the very beginning of the war to now they had lost four of their members. Rick, Roy, Gryphus 4 and Gryphus 5. Three killed by the Gleipnir and the other by Alect Squadron, all of them by their enemy Leasath.

It was their turn now to strike back.

\- Cobalt Cave, Danern Islands -

\- August 17th, 2020 1119 hrs -

"Cruz to Gryphus 1. Destroy all enemy freighters before they escape out of the combat zone."

"Roger." replied Church as he led Aubrey into the airspace with his eyes set directly on the prize laid out before him.

Cobalt Cave was resting below them in the island itself, a large opening cut out of the rock acting as the main bay for loading and unloading supplies while various other facilities and hangars were built into other portions of the island. Leasath had been built this most likely before the war had even begun, considering it was entirely unknown up until now.

"*Who knows what they could've created inside…" thought Church with a shudder as he locked onto one of the defense fighters stationed above the island and chased after it. They hadn't brought in enough fighters to defend the entire island, and they sure as hell didn't call in enough to stop the two pissed off Aurelian fighter bearing down on them.

"Fly with the grace of an angel and strike with the heart of a demon. Down them all." ordered Church darkly as they weaved through the Leasath fighters before them, mercilessly striking them down like the vengeful spirits they were.

Once the aerial threat was removed, Church turned his gaze down on a couple fleeing container ships and narrowed his eyes. He gunned it straight for the leader of the pack and dropped a GPU directly onto the hull's center, the resulting explosion causing the ship to rupture and split in two.

Aubrey followed up behind him with a successful attack on the second freighter and sank it easily, the two pilots turning back and splitting up to cover both sides of the island for maximum coverage.

"Remember not to get caught in the explosion after firing a missile inside." cautioned Church as he locked on to one of the sea-level hangars and began his approach.

"Got it. And don't worry Church, I'm not gonna let something as small as a chemical explosion kill me." replied Aubrey with a grin.

While they were each heading for their first targets, an allied group of units appeared on radar from the southeast approaching the island, their slow movement telling Church they were the amphibious unit Eugene had mentioned.

He returned his attention back to the hangar he was aiming at and fired a single missile, his instincts kicking in as he pulled way up and quickly got away from the entrance. The missile flew past the opening and rocketed inside towards a stack of metal containers, the Leasath maintenance workers and soldiers stationed inside unable to do anything except watch in terror.

The missile struck the containers and in an instant the explosion caused a chemical reaction within the liquid stored inside, creating a massive explosion that ripped apart the hangar from the inside out and spewed out fire and smoke like a volcano. The entire island shook and sent tremors rolling out in all directions, the waves reaching the amphibious unit.

"That was a huge explosion! We could feel the blast all the way over here!" exclaimed one of the Aurelian soldiers on board a hovercraft within the unit.

On the other side of the island a container ship was attempting to quickly escape from the hangar Aubrey had targeted, but she wouldn't even let it gain a yard when she fired a missile right into the opening and created another deafening explosion that consumed the entire freighter in fire and smoke.

"One of the freighters was caught in an explosion! The island is ripping itself apart!" shouted a Leasath officer from Cobalt Cave's command center, the entire base now in total chaos.

Massive smoke columns were now rising from the rocky island itself, adding more fuel to the fire and enabling the amphibious unit to sneak in through the cave's opening and commence a landing.

"This is the amphibious unit. We've just entered the cave. Commencing search for any valuable data."

"Roger. Gryphus Squadron, continue your assault and destroy all warehouses." said Eugene after the last freighter ship was destroyed by Church on his way to another hangar.

He followed the same path he used on the first hangar and after firing the single missile required he bailed out of the dive and ran away before the devastating explosion ripped another massive chunk out of the island, flaming rocks launching up and outward in all directions as a result. Aubrey destroyed another two hangars and in the blink of an eye the entire island had been reduced to a flaming ruin, giant pillars of fire and smoke rising up from the holes produced by the chemical explosions.

"This is the amphibious unit. We've secured the interior command center of Cobalt Cave and have apprehended a Leasath scientist."

"Fantastic. I've also confirmed that all warehouses and freighters have been destroyed, well done Gryphus Squadron. Mission accomplished, return to base."

The Aurelian pilots circled overhead as they waited for the amphibious unit to leave Cobalt Cave, and once they spotted their hovercrafts emerging out from the island they followed them away from the flaming island.

Little did they know that as soon as they were far enough away, an periscope emerged out of the water within Cobalt Cave and scanned the area for a few moments before dipping back under the water and returning to the submarine it belonged to. It had remained perfectly still while the attack had been going on and had managed to be undetected, enabling it to freely move now that the enemy was gone.

If it had been detected it would've been easily destroyed since it had no offensive armaments what so ever, it was merely a submarine outfitted for transport. And contained within its cargo hold were four fully functioning models of the weapon they had been testing at Cobalt Cave for the past several months.

"All ahead slow, we have precious cargo and we can't risk being spotted by the enemy." ordered the submarine captain as he raised up the periscope and crossed his arms when the submarine lurched forward and began its slow journey.

-We succeeded in preventing the delivery of Leasath's new experimental weapon as well as destroying their research facility. The allied landing force has apprehended an enemy scientist who is seeking asylum. He has informed us that the cargo Leasath attempted to move from Cobalt Cave was in fact a microwave weapon of some kind. To think that they were able to develop such a device.

\- White House, Oured, Osea -

\- Two Hours Later -

"It's been awhile hasn't it?"

"It has indeed, old friend."

Cipher held up a hand and shook Harling's hand firmly after he was walked into the Oval Office by the President's secretary. He took a seat in one of the chairs resting before the oak desk Harling sat behind and placed his hands in his lap.

"So, I've heard that Snow is pretty much going to become Osea's next President." he said to start off their conversation, Harling chuckling as he ran a hand through his visibly greying hair.

"That is true. I know he'll treat Osea right when he takes the office. The only problem I'm worried about is that he'll take office and Odysseus will come knocking on the door." stated Harling with a heavy sigh, Cipher slowly nodding.

All of a sudden the doors to the oval office burst open and his secretary came in with a worried look on her face, Cipher wrenching his neck around to listen what she had to say.

"What is it?"

"We've gotten word from Comona. Several small asteroids were spotted passing the Roche Limit over Usea, but they were easily shot down by their Stonehenge unit. Based on the Odysseus Asteroid's last location they believe that they'll reach Earth in the next month."

Harling's expression turned grim as Cipher turned back around and looked at the President with a similar look, the feeling in the room becoming incredibly tense.

"It's almost here. Call another conference with the world leaders. We need to relay this message so that we can be prepared." he said as he got up from his chair and straightened his tie.

He looked to Cipher and with a smile he asked, "Care to join?"

Cipher didn't really like being at huge press conferences, but he agreed nonetheless because of the hidden meaning behind Harling's question. Informing the entire populace of the Earth that the Odysseus Asteroids were a month away would send them into a panic. If the former Ace of Aces were to tell them that everything would be fine, and that the Stonehenge International Railgun Defense Network would protect them, it would definitely ease some tension and give the people hope.

It was the only thing they could do. Hope.


	23. End of Deception

A/N Here it is everyone, the final battle to decide who wins the war between Aurelia and Leasath. And to make it even worse Odysseus is almost here. The end is near. Leave a fav and review.

Chapter 22 - End of Deception

 _Chaos_

\- Challwa Naval Port, Aurelia -

\- August 24th, 2020 2400 hrs -

Instead of launching from Sachana again, Gryphus Squadron and the allied squadrons that were going with them had been sent to Challwa where they would board Aurelia's last remaining aircraft carrier, the Pillar of Light. They were gathering all of their available naval vessels for this operation, since Leasath still had a majority of their navy left after the Alect Squadron halted their attempt to take them out of the fight.

Instead of using their Raptors though they were being given FB-22 Strike Raptors since they could be launched with the carrier's catapults.

When they were on their way with the fleet, Church and AUbrey met with the other pilots inside the briefing room located in the command tower, Eugene activating the 3D briefer once they were all seated and intently watching him.

"Currently we are advancing onward to the Danern Islands, our target destination being Sentry Island. The Leasath scientist we apprehended from Cobalt Cave has told us that the military complex built into Sentry Island is named Archelon Fortress, and that Fenrir, the experimental fighter aircraft, was the whole reason they started this war. Navarro, the commander-in-chief of all Leasath forces, has been using the funds gained from the war effort to construct this fighter aircraft, and it is our duty to wipe this base clear off the map." he said, Church's fists clenching as the fortress appeared with targets, land, sea and air, marked out on and around the entire island.

"We've received word that the Alect Squadron is also stationed within the fortress. Fenrir's superior combat abilities, optical camouflage technology, combined with Leasath's ace pilots make this too dangerous of a threat to be left standing. This will be our most dangerous mission, with only the Gleipnir Flying Fortress being comparable. We will be mobilizing our entire navy to attack Archelon Fortress, so victory or defeat will be riding on this operation. We must take down Alect and Fenrir, and Archelon Fortress must be destroyed. Anything else is unacceptable. We've already freed Aurelia, so the war should've been over for us, but someone has to bring an end to this madness. Just make sure you come back alive. Dismissed!" finished Eugene, Church waiting silently for a few seconds before he stood up and walked with Aubrey out of the room.

After walking down several flights of stairs they walked out into the carrier's interior hangar and approached their fighter jets ready and waiting on the hydraulic lifts. Before walking over to them Church pulled her off to the side behind some crates and before she could say anything he hugged her tightly.

"What's wrong?" she asked, Church's entire body beginning to shake.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I've never been so scared before in my entire life." he said with a shaky voice, Aubrey sighing as she grabbed onto his hands and kissed him.

In an instant his muscles stopped spasming and he calmed down, the feeling of terror vanishing. She leaned back and smiled at him, Church blinking a few times out of surprise.

"Don't be. I know you'll find a way to win."

He continued to stare at her before he closed his eyes and returned the smile, saying, "Thanks, I needed that."

\- Sentry Island, Danern Islands, Leasath -

\- August 25th, 2020 0400 hrs -

They all launched in silence from the Pillar of Light, Church leading the combined air squadron with Aubrey at his side in their FB-22s. They could see the Leasath fleet in the distance, and beyond that was Sentry Island, home of Archelon Fortress and Fenrir. If the information about its combat capabilities were true, then its namesake from the mythical wolf wasn't misplaced.

"To all aircraft. This is likely to be our final sortie. Unlike you, fighting on the front lines, I stay high in the sky and watch the battle through my monitor. I'm in no position to ask anything from you, you've all have sacrificed enough for this country...but please allow me this one request. End this war and come back home to Aurelia _alive_. That is all."

"This is Aquila 1, roger that. We need to make certain nothing like this ever happens again." stated the flight lead of a six-man flight of F-22A Raptors that had flown out with them from Griswall. "Isn't that right, Southern Cross?"

"Exactly. For our future as a nation free of war, we must end it here and now." said Church with fire in his eyes.

"Our lives are in your hands now, Southern Cross. Lead the way!" said Aquila 1, Church zooming forward with Aubrey and the rest of the Aurelian fighters hot on his tail.

By now their incursion had just been detected by Archelon Fortress and the active base commander wasted no time in issuing orders.

"Multiple targets on radar, both air and naval. One of them is Nemesis." he stated, his attention immediately turning to the four pitch black fighters awaiting in the hangar below him within the island.

"Alect Squadron, launch."

"Alect 1, roger. Nemesis needs to learn to stay dead." replied the squadron's leader as he powered up his Fenrir's engines and taxied out onto the runway, his squadmates following right behind him as they took off one by one from the fortress.

They looped back around and formed up over the island, their black paint reflecting the early morning's sunrise before they vanished completely out of sight upon activating their Optical Camouflage. This time there was no playing around. When the two opposing forces met one another for the last time, there will only be one victor.

"Remember, Fenrir is equipped with the same type of Optical Camouflage as the flying fortress. However, with Aurelia's satellite surveillance system back online, we should be able to partially track its position. It's far from perfect, so bear that in mind." informed Eugene one last time before several SU-37s appeared on radar heading straight for Church and the advancing Aurelian fighters.

Church knew they were the sacrificial lambs before the oncoming storm, but they were enemies nonetheless and needed to be shot down. He also knew that somewhere nearby, just out of sight, was the Alect Squadron. He knew they would wait until all of their allies were taken care of before showing themselves.

It was just a matter of time.

"Break off and engage the Leasath fighters. Keep an eye on your six at all times." ordered Church when the enemy came within range of missile lock-on, the two opposing forces clashing against one another and commencing a fight to the death.

Just like all of the others before them, they fell one by one to the Southern Cross, the skies becoming their temporarily when the final fighter was shot down by Aubrey. With Leasath's navy currently engaging theirs, all that was left standing in their way was Alect Squadron. They were still a highly lethal threat even if they were on their own, so Church couldn't relax yet.

"All that's left is Alect. Commencing satellite scanning for their positions!" stated Eugene, a few seconds passing for four hazy but still somewhat distinct markers appeared on their radar.

This was it, the final showdown.

"So he's come back for more. Very well, Nemesis. Allow us to show you the true power of Fenrir!" snarled Alect 1 before all of a sudden a bright orange and red beam shot out from the air itself and struck the body of one of Aquila Squadron's fighters, visibly doing to damage in the first few seconds.

Confusement quickly turned to terror when the engines of the pilot's raptor turned red hot in a matter of seconds and, after another moment of silence exploded in a huge fireball.

"What the hell was that?!" stammered Aquila 1 after the beam vanished, Alect 1's cackling causing anger to rise up within Church once again.

"It is your fate. Accept it and die like the worthless animals you are!" he said before he and the rest of Alect Squadron dove into the fray.

"Eugene, can you please tell us what that was?!" demanded Church when missile-alert sirens blared in his cockpit, his instincts telling him to get out of the way fast.

"I'm working on it!" A few seconds passed and he cursed. "Dammit, it seems they were able to deliver four working models of the experimental weapon they were working on at Cobalt Cave to be put onto Fenrir!"

"Shit! What are we supposed to do?!" asked Aubrey.

"From what I'm looking at, it's a microwave-based weapon that causes the fuel inside a jet fighter to rapidly heat up and cause the engine to rupture, leading to the plane's detonation. I have no way of informing you of its firing, so just constantly stay on the move." said Eugene, Church growling under his breath at how helpless of a situation they were in.

As he avoided another missile from a hidden Alect fighter he happened to glance of at Archelon Fortress and noticed that the hangar doors leading into its interior were still open, and in that split second he had a crazy idea pop into his head. If it happened to work, it would enable them to turn the tide on Alect Squadron and give them a better chance to win.

"Eugene, can you hear me? I want you to scan Archelon Fortress for any inactive Fenrir units. If they had four made for Alect, they got to have more."

"Roger that Gryphus 1, commencing scan now." replied Eugene, Church looking over his shoulder and cursing again when another one of their fighters was shot down by the unknown beam weapon.

"I've got something, a single unit near the runway. What are planning on doing Church?"

"Trust me, it would sound crazy if I told you." he said with a smirk before he gunned it right for the fortress, the Alect Squadron not even noticing his departure since they were too embroiled in the fight with the others.

"Aubrey, hold on! I'll be back in a second!" he said as he set his sights on the fortress runway.

"Church, what are doing?" she asked before she had to avoid two missiles from their hidden enemy.

"Leveling the playing field."

\- Alendai, Leasath -

\- Same Time -

"As you all can see, the Fenrir is the culmination of superior aviation technology. Not even the famed Southern Cross can stand up to its might!' announced Navarro with a smile as he stood before a crowd of thousands, a screen behind him showing the events currently going on over Archelon in real time.

There were not just civilians in the mix, but also generals and defense arms contractors as well. They had all come out to see the "Fenrir" in action, and from what they could tell it was so far a successful demonstration of its capabilities of a fighter aircraft.

In the shadows of an alleyway near the square, Jack had his eyes closed and arms crossed as he listened to the general preach to the public. He grinned slightly and opened a single eye to glare at Navarro, thinking, " _Don't underestimate your enemies, Navarro. Sometimes when back into a corner...they can do some amazing things._ "

\- Sentry Island, Leasath -

With that Church lowered the landing gear and slowed down just a fraction before he felt the runway strike the wheels and break them off almost instantly, his body lurching forward when the Raptor's belly skid across the runway and left a blackened trail in its wake.

" _Steady, steady!_ " he told himself as he aimed the jet for the hangar and flew past the open doors, the Leasath soldiers and officers inside the massive hangar whirling around in total shock when an Aurelian fighter just came sliding in from the outside.

While they were still frozen with dumbfounded expressions plastered on their faces, Church launched himself out of his jet's cockpit and sprinted for the nearby Fenrir, marvelling silently to himself at its overall size and design. It looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie with its sleek body, armored cockpit and almost alien-like design.

He scrambled up the side of the jet and plopped himself down in the flight seat, the armored cockpit sliding shut upon his entrance while the jet automatically turned on. The Leasath soldiers were still standing completely still and watched in awe as Church taxied the jet out onto the runway and took off, the most advanced fighter jet in Leasath and possibly the world at that time now in the hands of their enemy.

He reached over and pressed a few keys on a holographic dashboard at his side and established a radio connection with Eugene, saying, "Hey, I'm back."

"Church?! What happened? You're radar signature shows your inside Archelon Fortress!"

"That's my old jet. I decided to swap it out for a new one." he said with a grin as he set his sights on the invisible Alect Squadron members.

"Swap out…? Oh you have got to be kidding me, you took the Fenrir?!"

"Oh hell yes I did!"

Church found a peculiar switch and activated it, the honeycomb cockpit view surrounding him instantly converting itself to infrared imaging, the jets ahead of them turning into heat signatures either marked green for ally or red for enemy. His smirk turned into an evil grin when he marked out Alect Squadron's from among his friends.

" _Oh it is so on, you mother fuckers._ " he thought maliciously before he discovered the switch used to activate the Fenrir's Optical Camouflage system and flicked it, the jet shimmering somewhat before it turned totally invisible.

Aubrey knew she had an Alect Fighter on her tail, and she was doing everything within her power to shake them off, but it wasn't helping. The Fenrir was too good of a fighter to shake off. She could feel her end approaching.

" _I'm sorry Church._ " she thought, a single tear emerging from the corner of her eye.

All of a sudden the enemy signature right behind her vanished and she whirled around, her eyes going wide in shock when the invisible Fenrir of Alect Squadron went up in flames, a shimmering object flying past the flaming wreck and up beside her.

"One of our fighters just went down! What the hell?!" said one of the Alect pilots in disbelief, Alect 1's eyes narrowing in silent fury as he looked from one Aurelian fighter to the other to try and figure out who was the culprit.

"Hey Aubrey." said Church with a grin, Aubrey blinking a few times before she squinted and just barely made out the outline of a fighter jet next to her.

"Church? Are you…?"

"I stole a Fenrir from the fortress. I told you I would level the playing field!" he exclaimed before he sped off and chased after another Alect Squadron member, the Leasath pilots none the wiser to his acquiring of a Fenrir.

One by one the elite pilots were shot down ruthlessly by Church, the pilots unable to discern who or what was shooting them down. Now it was just Alect 1 left, and Church was relishing this moment.

"Alect 1, it's the Southern Cross. Do you feel scared yet? All of your allies have been shot down, and _you're_ next."

"Shut the fuck up! Where are you?!"

"Can't you see? Oh wait, you can't, sorry."

"What are you talking about?" asked Alect 1.

"I decided to take a detour and picked up something from Archelon Fortress. Now I see why the Fenrir is such a good aircraft. It's badass."

"Y-You stole a Fenrir?!" stammered the ace pilot, Church smirking as he flew up behind Alect 1 and got ready to end the life of the person who killed his friend and wingman.

"I appreciate your company, I really do. But then again...you're the bastard that killed my friend and wingman. Have fun in hell." he snarled before he locked on to Alect 1's Fenrir and fired two missiles simultaneously, the ace pilot unable to dodge them in time and taking both right in the fuselage.

The plane exploded in a ball of fire and Church instantly felt a heavy weight get lifted off his shoulders. Alect Squadron had finally been destroyed, and now all that was standing in their way of total victory in the war was Archelon Fortress itself. At that same exact moment their naval forces appeared on radar, Church guessing they had finally finished dealing with the enemy fleet, and he grinned as they began to open fire on the fortress from a safe distance.

"Alect Squadron may be down, but Archelon Fortress is still fully operational! Prepare the fortress defense weapon!" ordered the Base Commander.

Suddenly a large dish-like mechanism began to move atop the island, Eugene immediately catching it and running a scan to determine what it was.

"That's...That's the same kind of shock cannon from the Gleipnir Flying Fortress!"

"What?!" stammered Aquila 1, all eyes in the air going down towards the fortress to watch the dish get slid into place and begin to charge up.

"We cannot allow Leasath to remain in possession with that weapon. Do everything you can to destroy it!" ordered Eugene, Church deactivating his Fenrir's Optical Camouflage so that everyone could see him.

"Everyone follow me, if that thing fires up then the same rules with the Gleipnir come into play, only flipped. Get as low to the ground as you can!" he said quickly before he dropped his altitude, Aubrey and the rest of the Aurelian pilots following him.

"Nice jet Church, where'd you get it?"

"On y'know, since I'm so popular in Leasath they decided to gift it to me." replied Church with a grin before he set his eyes on Archelon Fortress.

"I don't want any more people dying. All of you stay below the safe altitude, I'll destroy the Shock Cannon."

When no one argued and after the Shock Cannon fired, he picked up speed and came up from behind the island with his eyes right in the dish. He fired a pair of missiles that struck the metal ring and caused some sparks to fly out, the machine getting damaged by the attack.

"He plans on destroying everything, doesn't he?" asked Aquila 1 as Church pressed his attack on Archelon Fortress.

"He's wanting to ensure that we all live through this. We've all seen enough death." stated Aubrey as she looked up at Church and watched him fire another pair of missiles into the Shock Cannon and finally destroyed it.

A huge explosion followed suite after the dish's destruction, the entire island shaking vigorously while Church flew away to observe his handiwork with a grin.

"It's finally over...the war is finally over!"

The Aurelian pilots rejoiced, the flames rising up from the now ruined Archelon Fortress marking the end of the confrontation that had plagued their nation for so long. Church couldn't help but smile as the flew up beside Aubrey's jet and watch the sun continue its ascent into the sky.

It was a beautiful feeling.

"We did it." she said, Church nodding his head a few times before sighing heavily.

"Yeah...I just wish they could've been here with us."

They remained silent instead of saying anything else.

Church and Aubrey formed up with Aquila 1 and the rest of his squadron, the victorious pilots taking a final lap around Sentry Island before they would head back home as heroes. Church was about to lean back in the flight seat of his new Fenrir before all of a sudden a deafening boom resonated out from nowhere.

"What was that?" asked Aubrey, Church looking around for a few seconds for the sound's source.

Soon after another thunderous boom sounded off, followed by another. He was confused as to where they were coming from before he slowly looked up to the sky above. What he saw was the end of the world.

"Oh...my...god…"

"Church, what is it?" asked Aquila 1.

"The sky…" he uttered, the Aurelian pilots turning their gazes upward and seeing just what kind of horrors were occurring.

The sky was on fire, with flaming hunks of rock hurtling down to Earth through the atmosphere being gunned down from the surface by none other then the Stonehenge International Railgun Defense Network.

But there were too many to count. They couldn't possibly shoot them all down.

"It's happening...Odysseus is here."


	24. Fall of Odysseus

A/N …

Chapter 23 - Fall of Odysseus

 _Apocalypse Now_

All over the world, there was nothing but chaos. The Odysseus Asteroids, predicted by scientists to arrive in less then a month, had instead showed up at Earth's doorstep on the day the Aurelian-Leasath War had ended. The Stonehenge International Railgun Defense Network was doing all it can to stem the torrential downfall of the ten thousand plus amount of asteroids raining down on the planet, but even they were incapable of stopping all of them.

A major asteroid had already struck Osea near St. Hewlett, and this was only the beginning of it. Mass hysteria had set in, and the death toll was rising.

In Oured, when the sirens had begun to blare out throughout the entire city, Cipher had immediately ran out of the oval office with Harling during the middle of their conversation. Secret Service agents flanked them on both sides as they fled from the White House, Cipher managing to find Jasper through all the ruckus and keeping him close to his side as they ran.

"Cipher! Here!" shouted Harling through all the commotion as the explosions up above continued to reverberate through the sky.

Cipher followed him into the armored limousine he used to cruise through the city and got Jasper inside first before he literally threw himself into the seat and shut the door, Harling's door getting shut by a Secret Service agent.

The President didn't even have to say anything when the driver floored it and drove away from the White House as quickly as possible, the limo flying down the route they had established when Odysseus would arrive. They were driving to a secondary Presidential Bunker, which rested far away from the White House so that there wasn't a risk of it being damaged.

"Dad, what's happening?!" shouted Jasper fearfully when he saw flaming fragments of an asteroid shot down over the city plummet into Oured Bay.

"It's fine Jasper, everything will be fine." said Cipher to try and keep his son calm while he himself was struggling to keep his own composure.

Cipher looked out one of the windows back at the White House and his eyes caught something in the sky above. He looked up and he felt his heart skip a beat when a massive asteroid, totally untouched by the Stonehenge Units, broke through a group of clouds and covered the White House and a portion of the city in its shadow.

"Everyone, brace yourselves!" he shouted at the top of his lungs before he reached over and hugged his son as tightly as he could, his eyes closing tightly so he wouldn't see what was coming.

The asteroid struck the Earth and crushed the White House flat, its momentum enough to cause a massive fiery cloud of smoke and ash to zoom out in all directions at break-neck speed, Oured quickly becoming consumed by it while the ground shook vigorously as if all hell had been unleashed.

The raging fire cloud easily gobbled up the limousine and Cipher felt the vehicle lift up into the air, become weightless for a matter of moments before the roof struck the ground and they started to turn over and over. Some of the windows were blown out, raining glass particles into the interior. But through all of the carnage Cipher continued to hold on to Jasper for dear life, and it finally payed off when the vehicle finally stopped rolling and settled on its side.

Cipher cracked open an eye and saw that Harling was still sitting across from him, beaten and bloody but thankfully still alive. He looked down at Jasper and he was met with the eyes of his son.

"Thank god…" he whispered as he hugged him again and kissed him on the forehead.

He looked around for the door through the ash and smoke still in the air and found it, his hand unclasping the seat belt he wore so he could plant both feet against it and push it open with brute force. Once it was open and told Jasper to climb out first while he got Harling out.

It took a few minutes of strenuous effort but he was able to free the President from his seat belt and with help from Jasper they all exited the limousine and payed witness to the damage the meteor had caused.

"It's gone...it's all gone…" uttered Harling in total disbelief, Cipher thinking the very same thing.

The White House and a large portion of the city had been reduced to rubble and ash, a massive crater now the only marker standing in their place. Smoke started to blot out the morning sky, and all the while Stonehenge continued to fire up into the atmosphere in defense of the planet.

\- International Territory Bravo, Aurelia -

The Stonehenge unit built in Aurelia was in overdrive, its eight railguns firing shell after shell into the sky while the forces stationed there to defend it watched on in horror at the meteors in the sky and the fire raining down on the planet.

Talisman stood beside Marcus, Nicolai, Lorenz, Grimm and Nagase in total silence as they watched the fall of Odysseus from the mouth of the P-1112 Aigaion.

"So this is what it's like to watch the end of the world…" said Grimm in almost a whisper, his statement speaking for all of them.

\- Thirty Minutes Later -

The entire ordeal lasted for around thirty minutes, but in that time alone, the world had been drastically changed. Craters now dotted the landscape across the Osean Continent, not to mention the other continents, and casualty rates were already in the millions. Not even the fall of the Ulysses 1994XF04 can be compared to the tragedy that had just unfolded.

Several days afterwards, when efforts to begin rebuilding the cities either damaged or nearly wiped out by the asteroids, the death toll would be made official.

The Seven Pillars of Belka had caused the deaths of over twenty thousand people. The Attack on St. Petersburg had been around three hundred thousand. The fall of the Ulysses 1994XF04 had caused the deaths of over seven hundred thousand while displacing even more. The fall of Odysseus?

1.5 billion people worldwide. 1.5 _billion_.

Never before had the human race experienced such a tragic loss of life. Events such as these were unheard of, a one in a trillion chance occurrence. But it _happened_.

On this day, August 25th, 2020, a date which will go down in infamy, the world was struck by the Odysseus Asteroids.

This was to be known as the Odysseus Disaster, the worst major loss of life event to ever befall humanity.


	25. Epilogue

A/N Well, this is it. The End. Ace Combat X - The Southern Cross, has finally come to a close. Odysseus has fallen, and this disaster will be the one to set the stage for the series finale, Ace Combat - Oblivion. To prepare, I will be taking a hiatus to get all my stuff in order and to work on getting the first few chapters written. In the meantime, I will be releasing a short story that will bring to life the past of a certain character I will not name, and it's name will be "A Nightmare is Born", and also at the same time I will be working on another story based off the manga/anime, Akame ga Kill!. Look out for the short story, it will be going up soon. You guys are awesome, thank you for reading, and I will see you all later. Leave a fav and final review telling me what you think. Peace.

Epilogue

He had never been this scared in his life. Navarro had been run out of the square in Alendai after the live broadcast of his super-fighter Fenrir had ended up in the Alect Squadron getting shot down and Archelon Fortress getting destroyed. He knew _they_ had been watching, and he knew what was coming next.

So he ran, ran as fast as he could back to the capitol building, which had been easy enough because of the chaos gripping the entire nation due to the fall of Odysseus. He ordered all of his guards to protect him with their lives, stationing the last two still loyal to him at the door to his underground bunker before he locked it tight and retreated to the very back of the enclosure.

" _Please don't find me, please don't find me._ " he thought to himself in overwhelming dread, sweat literally pouring down his face nowSilence dominated the space for a few minutes before he jumped when the sound of gunfire echoed out from behind the reinforced metal door of the bunker, the shouts of his guards following soon after. All of a sudden a bloodcurdling scream penetrated through the door and sent chills running up and down Navarro's spine, his legs starting to tremble uncontrollably when everything went silent.

 _Dead_ silent.

Another minute passed by, and a couple of heavy thuds resonated from the other side of the door, Navarro's eyes darting to the growing bulge in the metal as whoever was behind repeatedly pounded against it. The dent grew larger and larger, the thuds turning into thunderous bangs that made the general jump every time before finally, the metal bloomed outward and a gloved hand shoved itself through, the fingers stretching themselves out and popping several times over.

Navarro watched the hand with wide eyes as it reached back and grabbed the lever that kept the door locked, pulling it up so that it turned the tumblers and unlocked the door.

"Oh _Navarro_ …" said a voice as the door slowly swung open, its owner revealing itself to be Jack when he walked in and rested his hands on his cane.

"You know running from me is pointless, right?" asked the assassin as he sneered at the general, Navarro gulping nervously

"And you know, after that little performance, you've used up your last strike."

"Please don't kill me! I still have so much to offer! I can still help!" blurted out Navarro as Jack slowly walked around the table in the bunker towards him.

"Oh, I believe it. But the thing is, we already have what we need. The only thing we _don't_ need...is you."

All of a sudden Jack rammed his hand into Navarro's throat and picked him up easily off the ground, his strength seemingly super human. He slammed him up against a wall and unsheathed his cane sword with his other, Navarro fearfully eyeing the sharpened blade.

Without a word Jack stabbed the blade through the man's shirt and into his gut, Navarro gasping in shock before the sword was wrenched out through his side, spraying blood all over the floor and wall.

Jack let go of his throat and continued to sneer when Navarro fell to his knees and gasped for air, barely clinging on to life itself as blood began to gush out of the wound.

"Nighty night, Navarro." said Jack gleefully before he brought his arm back and swung his sword at full force, the blade slicing through the man's neck and separating head from shoulders in the blink of an eye.

The man's shocked expression remained plastered on his face when his head hit the floor, his body slumping forward and falling into the fetal position. Jack wiped his sword on the dead man's back to clean off the blood before he sheathed it, his hand flying into his pocket to pull out a phone.

After speed-dialing the first number in his contact list he held it up to his ear and turned away from the newly created corpse.

"It's me. Navarro's been taken care of."

"Good." replied a voice on the other end of the call. "Everything is going according to plan."


	26. GO TO NEXT STORY

The prologue for A Nightmare is Born has been released! Go check it out!


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